The Prophecy of the Elemental Phoenix
by lishthefish
Summary: The vampire world is in revolt. Every race is fighting for dominance - to claim the throne. Each has it's very own weapon. But to win this war, they will need the ultimate weapon. Will the Cullens realize what is right in front of them?
1. Forks, Fights & Freaks

**Disclaimer: We don't own _Twilight_ or any of it's characters. But we own a lot of other characters in this story — Adrian, Jay-Jay, Alicia & Ethan...and some others; be jealous.**

**Like it, love it, live it, be it... but don't own it — it's ours.**

**This is a collaboration between myself and StarStrellaSta****r.**

* * *

"_I can stand up on my own  
__No one can bring me down down  
__I know I'm gonna shine shine, shine shine  
__I will hold my head up high  
__I'm gonna make it through, through  
__Because it's my time to shine shine, shine shine_"

_Shine_ by Raven Symoné

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**Chapter 1 — Forks, Fights & Freaks**

It was raining.

The first thing I noticed as I strode off of the plane and out into the crisp, cold, fresh air of Port Angeles was the rain.

It wasn't even just raining. It was pouring.

Really, I shouldn't have even been so shocked. It was Port Angeles, after all, and just like Forks, under a near-constant cover of clouds. It had always been like this. Even when I was a kid and came to visit my father over the summers; it rained.

I sighed loudly. This was going to be my life for at least the next couple of years. I would have to boldly endure this rainy weather daily until I could finish high school and move onto college.

I grimaced at that passing thought, not even pretending to mask my distaste of Forks with a false cheery smile. I wasn't that type of girl. I was remarkably honest with people, so there was really no reason for me to hide behind being fake now. People would get to know how I truly felt about Forks soon enough, anyway.

I descended the stairs of the plane and went to get my luggage.

Or at least I tried to get my luggage.

I had about three suitcases and they were much too large for me to carry alone. There was no chance of me carrying all of them by myself.

Maybe I should have taken Charlie up on his offer to pick me up from the airport.

"You need some help?" I heard a voice from behind me.

I turned around. The first thing I saw was a pair of very light, airy blue eyes. They were unique — different than any eyes I had ever seen before. Sure, I'd seen light blue eyes before...but his were so much lighter. They were almost white, but still blue. The eyes belonged to a boy who seemed to be around my age — maybe a little bit older. His skin was a pale peach and he had a slightly round face with soft features.

His hair was covered with a black beanie, only small flicks of his short, shaggy silver blond hair sticking out. He was wearing a pair of low-rise grey skinny jeans and a black _Three Days Grace_ t-shirt.

I ran a hand through my deep, dark chocolate brown, wavy waist-length hair and sighed defeatedly.

"Sure," I said. I was usually too proud and independent to allow others to help me with things — especially such small, trivial ones like carrying suitcases — but I was way too tired to fight right now. I just wanted to get to Charlie's place and crash.

He passed me his skateboard. Huh. How had I not noticed that before? He was practically the definition of "skater boy." I grabbed it from his hands and he turned to grab my luggage. I skillfully placed it on the floor using my feet and hopped on. I wasn't a skateboarder, but I knew how to ride one. When he turned back to me, he looked surprised and confused.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Flying," I replied sarcastically. "No, seriously, what does it look like I'm doing? Skateboarding, duh," I said like it was the most obvious thing in the world...which at this point, it pretty much was.

He rolled his eyes. "Good luck with that."

I glared at him. "Thanks."

"I'm Adrian, by the way," he said, effectively changing the subject.

"Bella."

"Well, Bella, lead the way."

I started skateboarding to the front desk. The lady behind it had her back turned toward me, so I pressed the little bell. She turned and faced me.

"Hello, dear," she said cheerily. "How may I help you today?"

I don't see why she was calling me 'dear'. She was probably only three years or so older than me. She had red hair and she was annoyingly smacking her gum.

"First, you can stop chewing your gum like a horse," I replied. "Second, you can _not_ call me 'dear' because I'm not much younger than you are. And third, I'm here to get my car."

She gaped at me with wide eyes, then glared. "Why you li—"

I smiled sweetly. "Car, please?"

She must have thought better of messing with me and losing her job, because she just huffed and asked, "Name?"

"Swan."

After going over a little more information for clarification that the car was actually mine, she told me that it was parked in lot A, space 7.

"Thank you." I grinned, snatching the spare keys from her hand and skating over to Adrian.

"Lets go," I said, drifting the way to the correct parking spot.

"So, Bella, what brings you to Port Angeles?"

"Not Port Angeles," I shook my head. "Forks."

"Oh, really?" he asked.

"Yeah. My dad lives there and I'm going to be living with him for the next couple of years."

"Who's your dad?"

"Charlie Swan," I replied.

"Chief Swan?" he asked. I nodded. "So you're the infamous Isabella he's been boasting about for the last few weeks?"

I groaned and smacked myself in the face. "That's me," I said in a fake peppy voice.

He turned and looked at me, staring at my face deeply. "Yep, I can definitely see the resemblance."

"Are you telling me I look like a man?" I whisper-screeched.

He chuckled. "No, but you have the same hair and eyes as Chief does — you can tell that you're his daughter," he said. "Besides you're much too pretty to be a man." He winked.

We arrived at my car then. Adrian whistled.

"Wow. _This_ is your car?"

I looked at him. "Yeah, this is my baby." I lightly stroked the hood of my sleek black Ferrari F430. I loved this car with everything I had. Seriously. Touch my baby and you die — and I don't accept excuses. I pressed the UNLOCK button on my key chain and listened for the little _click_ as the car unlocked, sighing contently as it sounded.

I quickly ushered Adrian to put my bags in my car. When we had them all in, I smiled at him.

"Thanks for your help."

"No problem," he replied.

"So, I guess we'll see each other at school, right?" I asked.

"Sure, if you would give me my skateboard back, then I might be able to make it to school on Monday," he said, pointing to his skateboard which I now held under my arm.

"Oh, right," I said, slightly embarrassed. "Here you go." I quickly handed him his board.

Adrian chuckled quietly. I quirked my eyebrow at him, but he just he shook his head.

"See ya' around," he said, getting on his board. Before I could even reply, he was gone.

What a strange person, I thought as I shook my head. What was he even doing here at the airport anyway? I checked the time on my iPhone. It was only 12:30PM on a Monday, so shouldn't he be in school? I shrugged that thought away for now. I had to stop being so wary of people.

I hopped into my car and hastily sped out of the parking lot.

The drive to Charlie's place didn't take that long since I was driving at top speed. I had to slow down when I got close to Charlie's house though — he is the Chief of Police after all, and he didn't teach me to speed.

Charlie's house hadn't change much, I noticed when I pulled in his driveway. In fact, it hadn't changed at all. It still had the same old, boring plain eggshell white color painted onto the small expanse of the home. The yard surrounding the house wasn't large, either.

His police cruiser wasn't parked on the gravel driveway, but I hadn't been expecting it to be. Charlie would be sitting in his Chief's Office down at the station, no doubt sharing donuts and coffee with his co-workers and friends.

Sighing, I got out of my car and opened the trunk. I stared at the suitcases nestled comfortably in the back. I sighed again and then focused.

I didn't really need Adrian's help earlier at the airport. I could have done it myself. But the truth is, when you look like an average teenage girl, but you're carrying three large, full suitcases, people will stare at you funny. Like you're a freak.

I took a deep breath and let go of those unnecessary thoughts, allowing my mind and body to calm and relax. I felt as my human weaknesses left me and my inhuman strengths filled me, making me much less breakable than I had been moments before. The strength that was now coursing through my veins, making me feel almost as if I was on a never-ending adrenaline high, made my lips curve into a smirk.

I enjoyed the feeling. I reveled in it.

I grabbed the suitcases, having very little trouble holding them all at once. The only difficulty was that it wasn't the most comfortable position to hold three large-sized suitcases at once.

Readjusting the handles to more comfortable positions, I made my way up the stairs of the house. I entered the house and stood in the little corridor between the kitchen and the living room.

Much like the exterior of the house, the interior hadn't changed a bit. There was more dust on the unused shelves and high places, but besides that, there was nothing I could see that was different from my last visit.

I sauntered into the living room, which was to my right, and examined it quickly. It was a small, cozy room. One wall held a window that faced the front yard. Against that was a small couch, with a love seat beside it, and a bookshelf on the other side. The bookshelf shouldn't have even been called a bookshelf since it contained nearly no books. The only modern thing in the living room was one of Charlie's most prized possessions, the flat screen TV, which was hung upon the wall opposite of the couch.

The room suited Charlie's personality perfectly. Add in a fishing rod and some bait, and you'd have Charlie down to a T. The room was basically everything Charlie needed for survival, minus food and that fishing rod. He mostly lounges in front of the TV, watching baseball or football games that were on, or goes fishing with his buddies. That was literally all he did aside from work. It doesn't really sound good, but that was all that he needed — all that he wanted. He was a very simple person, and he didn't like to speak much.

I used to be practically a spitting image of Charlie — though with Renee's facial features — even my personality, but I had changed over the years. I was no longer the shy, quiet girl anymore. The only thing that Charlie and I still had in common, besides the matching hair and eyes, was the fact that neither of us liked to show emotion. It came in handy sometimes, not showing emotions. It helped me reign in unwanted changes.

On my way up the stairs to my room, I glanced into the kitchen. My suspicions were proved correct when I saw that it looked as if it hadn't been used in years. I made a mental note to go shopping for groceries after I was finished upstairs, and possibly drop in for a visit at the station to see Charlie on my way back.

My bedroom was one of the only things in the house that had actually been upgraded throughout the years. The walls were painted a soft plum purple with pure black trim. The single window overlooking the front yard let a nice amount of light in to brighten the room, and was covered with a see-through soft black curtain. My bed was queen sized and against the window wall, to the left, with an ivory white comforter. On the other side of the window, is a pure black desk, and upon it is my white Apple laptop. My closet was on the east wall, really large in size, and painted black on the inside. My room may have been dark, but I loved it nonetheless.

I set my suitcases down and looked at them. I really didn't feel like unpacking the loads upon loads of clothes and other necessities I had brought with me yet, so I decided to do that later.

I went downstairs and into the kitchen, checked through the cupboards, and wrote out a quick shopping list. It didn't take long, and I was soon out the door. I felt really excited to see my father again. I was nearly bouncing in anticipation. I knew that he'd be very happy to see me, too.

I finished grocery shopping as fast as I could and made sure that I had everything I needed. After that, I was on my way to the police station.

One of the few — very limited — advantages of Forks was that there were no long drives. It took me less than five minutes to reach the station from the grocery store.

After skillfully pulling into a parking spot, I stepped out and entered the station. I looked around in hopes of finding Charlie quickly, and spotted him over by a door labelled CONFERENCE ROOM. He was arguing with someone who looked oddly familiar.

As I walked closer, I realized exactly who it was.

"Adrian?" I asked, shocked to see the boy who had helped me carry my luggage at the airport.

Both Charlie and Adrian turned to look at me. "Bella!" they said, their voices holding different levels of surprise.

Charlie seemed to have momentarily forgotten about his current argument with Adrian, because he looked me in the eye and his lips curved into a bright smile.

"Hey Dad!" I said, careful not to call him Charlie to his face, then I grinned. "Do you mind explaining to me why Adrian is here?"

"Oh," Charlie said with a small frown set on his face, his formerly beaming smile gone. "You guys know each other?"

"Yes. Your daughter stole my skateboard. You should arrest her," Adrian stated.

I glared at him. He just ruined whatever first impression he made on me.

"Bella, is that true?" Charlie asked.

My eyes flicked to him. I resisted the urge to roll them. "No, Dad, I did not intentionally steal his skateboard."

"But you did by accident?" He quirked a brow.

This time, I did roll my eyes. "If you count him passing me his skateboard and telling me to 'lead the way' as stealing, then yeah, I guess I did steal it. But if it's like that, then that also means that he stole my luggage."

"Stole your luggage? Where exactly did you two meet?" Charlie asked confusedly.

"The airport," I said.

Charlie turned to give Adrian an accusing look. "What were you doing at the airport?"

"Chief Swan," Adrian said in mock shock and hurt, "Do you really think that I would skip school and stay in Forks? I was on my way to LA of course, but your beautiful daughter convinced me to stay here."

"Bella, I don't want you to talk to this boy every again. He's a bad influence," Charlie said, looking at me with a rare kind of strictness.

"Ouch, that really hurt my feelings, Charlie." Adrian placed a hand on his heart.

"Shut up, boy. I know that you're a good person, but you're too troublesome to be around her," Charlie stated. "I don't want you to corrupt my Bella's thoughts."

"Dad?" I tried getting his attention.

He continued. "If she were to hang out with you, she could end up in prison."

"_Dad_?" I tried again, dragging out the 'a'.

"Or even worse, she could end up pregnant with the child of some rebel guy who drives around on a motorcyc—" I cut him off.

"Dad!" I screeched loud enough to make him flinch.

"And it's Chief Swan to you," he mumbled quickly to Adrian.

"Dad!" I yelled again. When he looked at me, I continued my angry rant. "You may be my father, but that doesn't mean you have the right to tell me who I can and cannot be friends with."

"Yes it does, Bella," he said angrily.

I narrowed my eyes at him, and I could practically feel the steam wanting to come out of my ears. I needed to calm myself down and I needed to do it quickly.

"No, it doesn't, _Charlie_," I sneered. "Let's go," I mumbled, grabbing Adrian's arm and dragging him outside the station with not even a glance at Charlie. I pushed him to the passenger side and got into the driver's side. "Get in," I said loudly.

He must have heard the anger in my voice because he quickly hopped in. I reversed my car out of the parking space and quickly sped down the road.

"Um, not that I don't appreciate you bailing me out and all, Bella, but, uh, my car is still at the station," Adrian said.

"Shh," I shushed him. "I'm trying to think."

I sucked in a few deep breaths and released them slowly, attempting to calm myself down before anything drastic happened. My thoughts drifted to calm things: the sound of the ocean waves lightly splashes to the shore, the sound of the wind softly blowing in a light breeze, the smell of the ocean, the fresh air, the sound of crackling fire in a fireplace, the sound of the birds singing happily in the mornings, the smell of burning wood, the smell of grass...

After a few minutes, I was able to calm myself down completely, and I felt normal again.

"Sorry, Adrian, but you're going to have to pick up your car tomorrow," I said.

"It's fine, I guess I'll just board to school."

"No." I shook my head. "It's not really that far, but I'll give you a lift. I'm starting at Forks High tomorrow, anyway."

"Sweet," he said.

"So, where do you live?"

He quickly told me his address, and I did an illegal U-turn to go the right direction. He made no comments. The drive to his place was comfortably silent, except for a few words we exchanged to make small talk.

When I pulled up to his house, I nearly gasped out loud. It was really beautiful. It wasn't huge — it was gargantuan. Like mansion-sized. The outside was a pure white color with a lot of windows and it seemed like all of the doors were made of glass. It looked very light and airy.

"Wow," I said aloud.

Adrian chuckled. "Pretty extravagant, huh?"

"Very," I replied. "Who picked it out? Your mom?"

"No, I did. My parents — they, uh, died a long time ago."

"Oh. I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. Nothing can be changed now," he muttered.

"So, I'll pick you up in the morning," I said, changing the subject. "Is 7:45 okay?"

He nodded, getting out of the car. "Sure. Oh, and thanks for the ride. I'll see you tomorrow."

"No problem." I smiled lightly. "See ya."

"Bye." He grinned and waved, sauntering up the pathway to the door of his house.

I did a small finger-wave and gunned the engine, speeding off down the road.

As I sped down the uncrowded roads of Forks, I thought about my day. I had managed to make a friend — or at least something close to that. Hopefully I wouldn't be forced to hang around alone at school tomorrow.

Ugh, school. I really wasn't looking forward to being the new shiny toy — the main attraction — in this little town.

I pulled into the driveway of Charlie's — and my — home and saw that Charlie still wasn't back from work.

That was fine with me. I didn't really feel like continuing our fight from earlier. But it's not like it was my fault. He maybe my dad, but that didn't give him the right to _tell_ me that I couldn't hang out with Adrian. He was the first person I had met in Forks, and not only was he really nice to me, he also helped me carry my luggage. If that wasn't nice and gentlemanly, I didn't know what was.

Sighing, I clambered out of my car and made my way into the house. After entering the house, I got to work right away.

First, I unpacked my suitcases. It didn't take nearly as much as I had thought it would earlier. When that was done, I went downstairs and started to prepare Charlie's favorite dish: lasagna. He absolutely loved lasagna. Well, it was his favorite next to fish, but surprisingly there was no fish in the house right now — he'll go fishing soon, I bet. I felt a little bad about our fight earlier, so I was hoping that the lasagna would lighten his mood.

After preparing everything and putting the lasagna in the oven, I decided to email Renee and let her know that I arrived here safely. She may have been harebrained and erratic, but she was still my mom.

I climbed the stairs and went into my room, grabbing my laptop and settling myself on the bed. I opened up my email and saw that there was one in my inbox from my mom. I clicked on it.

"_Bella_," it read.

_Why haven't you called or emailed yet? Are you in Forks now? Is it raining? Are you still alive? Oh my God, you're not dead, are you? Bella? Please reply soon so I know that you're safe. I love you._

_Love,_

_Mom_

_P.S. Phil says hi._

I burst out laughing. I couldn't help myself. My mom sent me an email asking if I was _dead_? Who does that?

Shaking my head silently, I hit the 'reply' button.

_Mom_, I wrote

_Relax. Take a deep breath and relax._

_I'm sorry for not replying sooner, but I was at the airport for a while _—_ and I met a nice person _—_ then I went grocery shopping, went to visit Charlie at the station _—_ and got into a fight with him _—_ then I had to come home and unpack. Plus, I had to start dinner._

_To answer your questions: Yes, I'm in Forks. Yes, it's raining (what else did you expect?). No, Mom, I'm not alive anymore. I'm dead, can't you tell? I'm just a spirit now, and I've learned how to control technology so that I could reply to your message. Of course I'm alive, Mom. Why would you even attempt to email a 'dead' person?_

_You need to stop worrying about me and worry about yourself. You know that I can take care of myself. I've already met a really nice person and got into a fight with Charlie. So as you can tell, I'm perfectly fine. Oh, and say hello to Phil for me._

_I miss and love you lots._

_Bella_

I finished typing the message and quickly hit the 'send' button before I could decide to erase what I wrote and make a message telling her that I was dead and now a ghost. It was much too tempting.

I glanced at the clock and saw that I still had plenty of time left before the food would be ready and Charlie wouldn't arrive home for a while. I decided to sit down in the kitchen and read a book. But not just any book. My favorite book, _Wuthering Heights_. I knew the entire story by heart, but I still could never get enough of it. After situating myself in a chair at the kitchen table, I began reading the book and was quickly lost in the story of Heathcliff and Catherine.

The smell of lasagna was the thing to pull me out of my own little world. I put the book down and quickly jumped up, pulling the lasagna out of the oven before it could start burning.

Just as I was cutting the lasagna and putting it on two plates, I heard a car in the driveway. I looked out the window and saw Charlie clambering out of his police cruiser. He looked exhausted.

I finished putting food on the plates and placed them on the table, waiting for Charlie to enter the kitchen.

He must have heard me while I was serving the food, because he shouted, "Bella is that you?"

"No, it's Abraham," I shouted back sarcastically, rolling my eyes though he couldn't see.

I heard Charlie grumble something unintelligible before he came into the kitchen.

"You better stop with that atti—" he started but cut himself off when he saw the food on the table. His expression completely changed. "Oh, you made dinner?"

"Yeah, I figured you might be hungry."

"Well, um...that was awful nice of you," he replied, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. It was moments like these when he didn't know what to do with himself that made me laugh.

"Sit down, Dad." I chuckled and took a seat myself.

Dinner was one _very_ quiet event. Charlie spoke when we were nearly done.

"Bells, you know earlier today at the station, I didn't mean it like that," he said. "I'm just worried about you."

"I know, Dad. But you and mom have to deal with the fact that I'm not a little girl anymore."

Charlie sighed. "You're still _our_ little girl," he said. When I gave him a look, he nodded sadly, clearly accepting what I had said. "I still want you to be careful with that Adrian kid. He really is trouble, Bells, it's not easy to deal with him — he's too flighty."

"I'll keep that in mind," I reassured him. I picked up his dish as well as mine and quickly cleared them.

Charlie stood uncomfortably in the kitchen and gave me a questioning look. "You want me to help you with anything?"

I laughed and shook my head. "Just go watch the game, Dad, I know you want to."

He grinned at me and left the room, his smile never faltering. I quickly finished cleaning up the mess I had made when I prepared the lasagna and when the kitchen was back to what it had been like before I was there, I sighed.

"Dad," I called, heading into the living room.

"Yeah, Bells?"

"I'm going to head up to bed now."

"Oh, alright," he said. "Um, thanks for dinner, Bells, it was great."

"It was no problem, Dad," I said as I walked over to him. I quickly planted a kiss on his cheek. "Goodnight."

He blushed and awkwardly muttered, "'Night, Bells."

I rolled my eyes at his shyness and left the room, grabbing my book from the kitchen before heading up the stairs. I went into my bedroom and grabbed my bag of bathroom necessities. I wish I had my own bathroom, but the house was too small for that, so I had to share one with Charlie. It wouldn't be too bad, though, because he didn't take long to get ready and shower. I just hoped he wouldn't use up all the hot water in the mornings.

I strolled lightly into the bathroom and quickly took a shower to get rid of the airplane smell. I hated flying on planes because they were so crowded and they really did smell strange.

After my hasty shower, I hopped out and pulled on a pair of ripped light gray sweat shorts and a black tank top for pajamas. I brushed my hair and shook it out a little so that the long, damp curls wouldn't stick to my skin — it was one of the most uncomfortable things ever — and then brushed my teeth with my vanilla-mint toothpaste.

I finished up in the bathroom and grabbed my bag and dirty clothes. I deposited the clothing into the laundry basket and went back to my bedroom. I climbed into bed and sighed as I snuggled into the warm sheets. I mentally thanked my heater as I closed my eyes and drifted off into a serene slumber.

My alarm clock went off much too early for my liking. I had been sleeping nice and tight and I was now being pulled out of my peaceful state.

I groaned and slowly sat up. The annoying beeping sound was still echoing in my room from the alarm, so I quickly turned that off and looked at the time.

6:30AM. I frowned. I had never been a particularly 'early riser' and I had definitely never liked getting up early — this was something that would never change.

I got up and out of bed as fast as I could, which was actually rather slow, and went to my closet. I threw on a pair of darkwash skinny jeans and a medium grey tank top with a black jersey shrug cardigan over top. I pulled on a pair of black heeled ankle boots.

Charlie was already gone for work when I got downstairs, so I only had to make breakfast for myself.

When the clock rolled around to 7:30, I dragged myself outside to go pick up Adrian. The drive to his house didn't take too long since I had the tendency to drive a _little_ fast (okay, I'll admit I speed the majority of the time).

He was already waiting for me when I arrived. He was sitting on his porch, playing around with his skateboard.

"Get in, Skater Boy," I called to him. He grinned at me and quickly hopped up. He was wearing pretty much the same thing as he was yesterday; dark skinny jeans, a band tee and a beanie with skate shoes.

"Morning, Princess," he greeted when he was sitting in the passenger seat.

"Princess?"

Adrian shrugged. "Yep."

"Don't call me 'Princess' ever again."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to be called 'Princess'. Save that for your girlfriend."

"You don't want to be my girlfriend?" he asked, mocking hurt. "And here I thought we had something special."

"Cut it out," I snapped, rolling my eyes at him.

"Cutting," he answered with a huge smile lighting his face.

I rolled my eyes at him again, but a smile made it's way onto my lips nonetheless. He was such an easy person to get along with.

Forks High School came up quickly, and I pulled into the parking lot.

"Nice, I'm here with the new girl. Now I'm going to be the most popular guy in school," Adrian sang in a very annoying voice.

"Don't start any crap, is that clear?"

"Crystal, ma'am. Would you like me to show you where the main office is?"

"That would be nice."

We got out of my car and Adrian led me to the office. Everyone gawked at us — or more importantly, me — just as I had suspected.

One girl pointed her finger at me and whispered something to her friend.

I glared at where she was and strolled over to them.

They were both busily whispering so they didn't notice me when I was in front of them. I cleared my throat loudly, causing both of them to look up at me, startled.

"Is there something you would like to tell me?" I asked in a sugary sweet voice.

They looked at each other and quickly shook their heads. I opened my mouth to say something else, but I was hastily pulled away.

"You can scare little girls later, Bella. You don't want to be late for class," Adrian said.

"What?" I yelled in shock. "You're telling me that I should be on time? This is coming from the guy who skipped school yesterday to hang out at an airport...hey, you never really told me what you were doing there."

"Maybe I'll tell you some other time," he said with a grim expression on his face.

I sighed, but didn't push it any further.

"Mrs. Cope," Adrian greeted the plump woman at the front desk in an overly cheery voice. The volume that he spoke made me flinch.

"Ah, Mr. Skye. How nice to see you in school for once without having caused trouble somewhere," the woman, Mrs. Cope, replied in a sarcastic tone. I looked at her. She was an elderly woman with reddish-orange hair that had random gray streaks in it. She had glasses on her round face and was looking at a stack of paper in front of her.

"But the day is still young. You never know what else could happen," Adrian answered with a chuckle. "I brought the new student with me — y'know I'm trying to be a better person and all."

That's when Mrs. Cope noticed me and a bright smile replaced the deep frown on her face. Ugh. Do I even _want_ to know what stories Charlie had been spreading about me?

"Ah, yes, Ms. Swan. We've been waiting your arrival for quite some time now. How are you liking Forks so far?"

I briefly wondered if I should tell her the truth. I was wracking my brain for an adequate answer when Mrs. Cope spoke again, already moving on from the topic of Forks.

"Here is your schedule, dear. Oh, and please have this slip signed by all of your teachers and returned here at the end of the day."

"Okay," I said.

"Have a nice day, dear."

I nodded at her as she gave Adrian a rather icy stare, then dismissed us.

"Let me see," Adrian demanded when we were out of the office, greedily sticking his hand out for my schedule.

I sighed, but handed it to him anyway.

"Sweet," he said. "We have Calculus and Gym together." He handed me back my schedule. "Calculus is up first."

I nodded wordlessly as Adrian led me into the school and to the Calculus room. When we entered the class, I tried to pretend that I didn't notice every eye in the room on us, but it was hard. Great. I just _love_ attention. Please take note of the sarcasm.

"Don't mind them, they're just jealous of me. I'm the most handsome guy in the school, so I get these stares everyday — it's nothing new," Adrian joked. I punched him lightly on the arm. "What was that for?"

"For being you," I answered lightly, scoping around the room for any open seats.

"Oh, don't worry, you can sit next to me," he said when he realized what I was doing. He dragged me with him to a desk at the back of the room where a boy was already sitting. He really needed to stop pulling me around.

"Yo, Adrian!" The boy said. "I heard you're with the new girl. Damn, how did you manage to get that chi—" he stopped short when he saw me. Adrian kicked his chair, making it shake.

"Get off, Brian, my girlfriend wants to sit there," Adrian said with authority in his voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry dude, I didn't know. I'm already gone," Brian answered with wide eyes, sounding a little scared.

"What? Hey! I'm not—" I began to protest but stopped when I saw that Brian was already on the other side of the room. He was talking to a small group of guys. He said something that made all of them look in my direction.

"Did you have to do that?" I asked in a voice that sounded slightly desperate and exasperated.

Adrian laughed. "Yeah, why not?"

"Because now the whole school is going to think that we're together," I hissed as I hit him on the arm again, a lot harder than before. This time, though, I purposely made sure it hurt.

"Ouch," he winced, rubbing the spot I hit. "No need to be so rough. My boys aren't running around the place gossiping, you know. So chillax, I'll tell them it was just a joke later, alright?"

"You better," I replied with narrowed eyes.

The teacher — a balding man with a slight beer belly — arrived then. I made my way to the front of the classroom.

"Hi, I'm the new student, Bella Swan," I said. "I was told to have this sheet signed." I put my hand out with the sheet in it.

He grunted. Other than that, he didn't really acknowledge my presence. He quickly signed the sheet and gave it back to me, ushering me away.

_Ah, what a nice teacher_, I thought sarcastically.

I sauntered back to where Adrian was seated and took my spot beside him as the teacher started his lecture. It wasn't at all exciting. But then again, Calculus never was.

I slouched back in my seat and started daydreaming of beautiful and sunny Phoenix. I remembered the heat and the dry ground...the sun that was nearly always brightly beaming happily in the sky...

"Yo, B," Adrian whispered to me, effectively pulling me out of my reminiscing and back into boring reality.

"What?" I hissed quietly.

"Wanna try?" he asked, holding a paper ball in front of my face and raising one of his blond eyebrows with a devious smirk on his face.

"What are you talking about?" I asked annoyed, and confused. In some ways, he was more of a kid than Josh, the 7-year-old boy I used to babysit for my neighbor in Phoenix. That kid was the most immature, childish kid I had _ever_ met.

"If you hit Lauren's head, I'll give you 10 bucks, but if you miss, you owe me."

My brow furrowed. "Who's Lauren?"

"See that chick over there with the fake blonde hair?" He pointed at a girl two rows in front of us. "That's Lauren. She's a huge bitch, so don't feel bad about hitting her."

I looked at the girl he gestured to. When she turned to hiss something at a girl behind her, I caught a quick glimpse of her face. Her expression couldn't be classed as anything even remotely close to friendly, and she had so much makeup caked on her face that it looked like she had stuck her head in a bucket of flour and had a clown put the rest on for her.

"Make it twenty and I'm in," I told Adrian.

"You sure? I feel kind of bad taking money from you like that, baby girl," he said in a taunting voice. He was trying to provoke me.

I took the ball from his hand and threw it fiercely. It hit Lauren hard, directly in the back of her head. Before she could turn and see that it was me, I turned and faced the front of the room.

"Don't ever call me 'baby girl' again," I hissed at Adrian.

He acted like he was looking at the whiteboard at the front of the room, just like I did, while Lauren was looking around the classroom with a very pissed off expression on her face. Everyone in the class — besides the teacher — was having a hard time muffling their laughter, but I could tell it was worse for those closer to her, especially when Lauren screeched at them.

"Is there anything I _am_ allowed to call you?" Adrian asked exasperatedly.

"Of course," I said. "You can call me Bella."

"How boring." Adrian pouted.

"Deal with it," I snapped while rolling my eyes. I ignored Adrian when he tried to say something again by acting like I was actually paying attention to the teacher's lesson.

The rest of Calculus was rather uneventful. When it ended, I was more than glad that it was over.

"Do you want me to walk you to your next class?" Adrian asked as we walked out of the classroom.

"Nah," I answered. "I'll be fine."

"Okay, but you have to sit with me at lunch," he insisted.

"Clingy much?"

"Just a tad," he said as he got on his skateboard and wheeled down the hall. I didn't really register the fact that he was actually skateboarding in the school until he had gone around a corner, screaming at people to get out of his way.

"Mr. Skye, how many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" I heard our Calculus teacher, Mr. Bergner, yell after Adrian. So he did notice things after all.

Even though Adrian was already far away, I could still heard his laugh echoing down the halls.

I made my way to my next class, English. I entered the classroom and sat down as far back as I possibly could. I didn't really want more people to stare at me. My plan clearly didn't work because somehow everyone managed to get a few looks at me anyway.

A moment after the bell rang, a very short girl came rushing in. She was beautiful, inhumanly so. Her short black hair flicked out at the ends, pointing in every direction. All in all, she was a very tiny person.

The girl quickly apologized for being late and then walked up to me, sitting gracefully in the seat next to me.

When she finally noticed me, she turned to face me. "Oh! Are you Isabella Swan?" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah, but just call me Bella."

"Bella," she said. "I'm Alice."

She seemed to be an overly hyperactive person. But that's just my assumption, judging by the way she was bouncing up and down in her seat and her bright smile wasn't dimming even the smallest bit.

"Nice to meet you, Alice," I replied carefully, unsure of what to think of the girl.

"Wow, I love your sense of fashion," she babbled. "Oh, and you're so pretty!"

"Thanks," I said, then waited to see if she had anything else to say.

When all she did was smile flash me her bright smile once again and turn to face the front, where a small frown settled onto her face, I was actually fairly surprised.

What was up with this girl?

I shrugged the thought away and faced the whiteboard and began to listen to the teacher.

The rest of English went by pretty quickly. Spanish was after that and it went pretty much the same as English class — minus Alice Cullen. Neither of the classes were anything special, and nothing overly exciting happened. I did, however, learn to simpy ignore all of the stares I was getting at every moment of the day.

Finally, it was time for lunch.

I had no idea where I was going, so I just followed the largest crowd — though that was mainly in hopes of blending in. Thankfully, I ended up in the cafeteria. I wasn't too hungry, so I just got an apple and a lemonade.

After getting my little bit of food, I looked around the room until I found Adrian. He was sitting at a far table with a couple of other guys. By the looks of it, they were all "skater boys."

I smirked to myself and sauntered over to them.

I didn't bother greeting them when I reached their table. Instead, I simply put down my tray and pushed Adrian's leg off of the chair beside him so that I could sit there.

"Whoa, Princess. You could have said something," he said as I plunked myself down on the chair.

"Yeah, but that's not really my style." I grinned cheekily.

"And that is why I love you so much," Adrian answered, slinging his arm over my shoulder.

I looked at him evenly. "Unless you want to lose it, I'd move your arm right now."

"Ah, feisty. Just how I like it," Adrian said, as he removed his arm.

"What is with you and the overly excessive flirting anyway?" I sighed.

"So you're not his girlfriend?" one of the guys at the table asked.

"Do I look like I am?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually, no," the guy answered, then looked looked at Adrian as he said, "The only girls who have ever taken any interest in him are still in elementary school."

All of the guys at the table laughed, except for Adrian.

"Shut up, Michael," Adrian said absentmindedly, staring at something behind me with slightly narrowed eyes.

I found out that it wasn't something he was looking at, rather some_one_, when I suddenly heard an unattractive nasally voice behind me.

"Aren't you like, the new girl?" the voice asked.

I turned around and saw that the voice belong to Lauren. It didn't surprise me. Seeing her up close made me want to spit out the lemonade that was currently occupying my mouth. She looked even more ridiculous from here. Her followers — two girls that flanked her on either side — didn't look any better than she did.

"Yes, I am. What do you want?" I asked, trying my hardest not to laugh at her.

"I just like, wanna tell you that you are like, really pathetic to like, hang out with these like, losers," she answered with a disgusted look on her face.

"Do you even _know_ what 'pathetic' means?" I asked her.

"Um..."

"Look it up in the dictionary," I said. "It'll be the one with your picture beside it."

Lauren looked at me with a blank expression on her caked face. "You think you're like, so cool but you're like, not," she said.

"Lauren, don't you have to go and powder your nose or something? It looks like it has little cracks on it and you don't want your face to fall off, do you?"

Her expression went back to it's previous state of blankness.

"Do you understand _anything_ that I'm saying?" I asked.

Her expression didn't change at all. Was she really that stupid?

"Fine," I said. I grabbed a lock of my long hair and twirled it around my finger, smacking my gums together like I was chewing gum loudly and fluttering my eyelashes. "I was like, saying that like, you and your like, friends, should like, go and like redo your like, faces like, right now, because they like, look like crap," I said in a voice that imitated hers — annoying, nasally.

That got her expression to finally change. She looked at me angrily. "Don't think that you are like, pretty, because you're like, not."

"Wow, but you know what? I can actually speak without sounding completely retarded. How did you even manage to make it to high school?"

She didn't give me an answer to that. Instead, she flipped her hair — which was clearly dyed platinum blond, though it suited her obvious lack of intelligence — and stalked off, her two dogs trailing behind her.

"Nice job, Bella," Adrian said while he gave me a nod of approval. The other guys at the table did the same.

I simply leaned back into my chair, casually taking a bite of my apple as I said, "What can I say?" I shrugged lightly, "It's a gift."

He grinned at me. "A great one at that."

I nodded. "Who were those two dogs she was with anyway?" I asked curiously.

"Dogs?" He quirked an eyebrow at me.

I sighed. "The other two clowns..." I trailed off.

"Oh," he said. "The short one with light brown curly hair is Jessica Stanley. Out of the three of them, she's the smartest. The other one, with the dull reddish-pink hair with completely fried off ends, is Brianna. She was thrown out of the Jay Club because she wasn't pretty enough, so she figured she could start dressing and acting like Lauren. Now she looks a lot worse."

"What is the 'Jay Club'?" I asked confusedly.

"Just a bunch of girls," Adrian answered nonchalantly.

"A bunch of _hot_ girls," Michael corrected, looking at them slightly dreamy.

"And why do they call themselves the Jay Club?" I asked, not really impressed.

Adrian leaned forward and pointed to the entrance of the cafeteria. "_That_ is the Jay Club," he said.

I looked to where he was pointing and studied them. It was a rather large group of girls, all of them dressed up nicely and laughing at something. It looked like they had just stepped out of a scene from a movie. It was sort of cliché, but the only thing missing was wind to blow their hair around. Each of them carried a tray of food, except for one.

She was walking in the middle of the group and only held a few books in her arms. It looked like she was the center of this 'Jay Club'. She was very beautiful. She had short red hair with a little black touch to it. It was really short, not even quite reaching her chin, but she wore it perfectly. It was slightly wispy and looked a bit layered, the red of the shorter layers being a little bit brighter. Her complexion wasn't dark, but it wasn't light either. It almost looked like her skin had a natural caramel glow to it. She kind of looked like she was Hispanic or Asian. It was hard to tell from where I sat, but I was pretty sure her eyes were black — not just dark brown, but black. They were oddly entrancing, though. Her beauty was sort of hard to describe, but she had some kind of forceful flair to her.

"That is Jay-Jay Flamel, and she's the reason they call themselves the Jay Club."

"She has her own club?" I asked incredulously.

"Yep."

"Are there any other crazy people I should know about?"

"Well, see that girl over there?" Adrian pointed to a group of people who were all dressed in dark colors and seemed to mainly have dark hair, and at least one piercing of some sort. They didn't seem like they were even acknowledging each others presence.

"Which one?" I asked.

"The one with the black hair that looks sort of blue."

I looked at the one he was describing. "Yeah."

"I think that she's crazy," he said. I smacked him on the arm.

"You're the only crazy person here," I stated.

"No, I'm not, she really is crazy — she's_ really_ weird. I've never heard her talk," Adrian insisted.

"I _wish_ I could say the same about you," I muttered, sighing as I began to examine the girl.

She was extremely beautiful, just like Jay-Jay, but while Jay-Jay was more of a forceful beauty, the black-haired girl had more of a flowing beauty. She wouldn't even need any make up, although she was wearing some, but not much. From here, it looked like she only wore black eyeliner and had impeccably long eyelashes. But even from this distance away, I could tell that she didn't wear any mascara — her lashes were too soft-looking, yet still thick, long, and pure black. Her dark clothes made her look a little pale, and her sleek, straight, jet-black hair went to the crook of her elbows with side-swept bangs covering her right eye and had a slight deep ocean blue tint to it. The darkness of it didn't help her skin tone, but somehow it suited her perfectly. As I looked at her, I didn't exactly get the "I'm crazy" vibe, so I wasn't sure what Adrian was talking about.

"Her name's Alicia Raine," he told me. Her name wasn't pronounced like Aleesha, though, it was like Alisha (_ah-liSH-ah_), with the 'lish' sound from delicious.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Hmm?" He had clearly been quite distracted by something.

"What are you looking at?" I asked, turning to face him.

That's when I saw them.

"The Cullens," I heard Adrian answer.

The Cullens were absolutely breathtaking. The only people I had ever actually seen who could rival their beauty were Alicia and Jay-Jay. There were five people sitting at their table; two females and three males. I recognized the short, thin, pixielike girl from my English class, Alice. She was gazing lovingly at a honey-blond male. He looked tall and lean from where I was sitting and his blond hair was in waves and slightly shaggy. Beside him sat the other female. She was much taller than Alice and had golden blonde hair that cascaded in waves down to the middle of her back with a body to die for — slender, long legs, curves in all the right places. A huge, strong-looking arm was slung across her shoulder. It belonged to a man who was very clearly tall and hugely muscular. His dark brown, curly hair was short and contrasted greatly against his pale skin. There was only one other person at the table — a lone male. His hair was very dishevelled and a strange, reddish-brown color. It had golden tints in it too. I guess the best word to describe it would be bronze. He was tall, like the other males, but he was more boyish with his lanky body.

All of their faces had perfectly symmetrical features and they each had the same purplish bruiselike shadows underneath of their eyes. Although I couldn't really see from the distance between them and I, I was pretty sure that they all had the exact same dark onyx irises. They also all shared the same, extremely pale skin. It was so pale that they almost looked sick, but they somehow worked the fairness of it and made it look gorgeous.

"They're hot, huh?" Adrian questioned me.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and focused back on him. "Yeah."

"The short girl is Alice Cu—" he began, but I cut him off.

"Alice Cullen, I know. She's in my English class."

"Really?" he asked, surprised.

I nodded. "She sat beside me and introduced herself."

"Weird. The Cullens pretty much never talk to people outside of their family."

Shrugging, I asked, "What are their names?"

"Well, you already know Alice, so...she's dating the blond boy, Jasper Hale. The blonde girl is Rosalie — she's Jasper's twin — and she's with the big guy, Emmett Cullen. The other one is Edward Cullen, but he's dating no one. Don't get me wrong, though, practically _every_ girl in the school has tried to be with him."

"Emmett is huge," I commented.

"Yeah, the only one in the school who can actually compete with his size is Ethan Clay."

"Who?" I asked confusedly.

"Ethan Clay — he's captain of the football team."

I looked around the cafeteria and my eyes were drawn to a table full of guys with mainly muscular builds or lithe bodies.

"Is that the football team?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Ethan's the one with the brown hair and green eyes."

My eyes flickered between the people at the table and stopped on the largest guy there. He was huge — body-builder huge — but not quite as big as Emmett. His dirt brown hair was in a slight mohawk and his green eyes kind of resembled moss.

"Hey! Don't ditch me for that Ethan guy," Adrian joked as I studied Ethan.

"I would ditch you for a piece of trash," I replied.

"Ouch," he muttered. "You know, you should really stop hurting my feelings like that."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Don't we have to go to class now?"

"Um...yes. Do you want any of us to walk you somewhere?" Adrian offered.

I shook my head. "Nah. Like I said, I'm a big girl — I can manage."

I smiled at him and left the cafeteria quickly, walking off to my next class.

Next was Biology. I entered the classroom and handed my teacher the slip. While he signed the sheet, he introduced himself as Mr. Banner and told me what they were currently learning about in the class. As he spoke, the classroom began filling with more and more students.

"You'll be sitting next to Edward Cullen," he told me, pointing at a desk. I turned and saw that it was the bronze-haired boy from lunch. But I already knew that.

"Thanks," I said, then sauntered toward the lab table. As I was walking, I noticed that Edward was glaring at me. Not just the "O-M-G I totally hate you for getting that shirt before me!" type of glare, but like a _real_ glare — murderous and hateful. I felt a chill run down my spine and shivered a little. What had I done to that boy? I shrugged it off, though, and ignored him. Whatever his problem was, it wasn't mine.

I was trying my best to pay close attention to the lesson, but I was a little distracted because I could practically feel the guy glaring at me. What was his name again? Right, Edward.

I quickly whipped my head around and now it was my turn to glare the meanest, iciest glare I could muster. "What is your problem?" I hissed. "If you're trying to kill me by glaring, then let me inform you that it is _not_ working. Just take a freaking picture and stop pissing me off."

Seeing the startled, shocked, and disbelieving expression take over his face gave me enough satisfaction to relax and finally follow the lesson.

When the bell _finally_ rang, I quickly packed up my stuff and made my way to the gym. I went into the women's change room and was changed rather quickly. I was out of there and in the gym before any of the other girls.

"Bella!" I heard Adrian's voice shout.

I sighed. He was just too cheerful.

"Aren't you excited? This is gym," Adrian sang while putting his arm around my shoulder once again. "This is where you can get all of your aggressions and frustrations out, and later on, you'll smell manly. There's nothing better than the manly smell of pure sweat."

"Yeah," I answered slowly, pushing his arm away from me.

"Ah, baby girl, you're the only girl in this school who has ever touched my heart." Adrian sighed.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, a little annoyed with him.

"You're the only one that has ever dealt with me so coolly."

"Yeah, well, I'm experienced in dealing with annoying kids," I muttered.

"And once again you've wounded me."

"So what? You called me 'baby girl' again. We're even."

Adrian smiled airily at me.

"Are you ever serious?" I asked.

"I am. Sometimes."

"Really? 'Cause it doesn't seem like it. It's like nothing can upset you."

Adrian's face turned dark. He wasn't looking at me anymore, but at something far away — something that no one but him could see.

I must have upset him with my words.

So it seems that _I_ was able to upset him. _Good job, Bella!_

"Hey, you okay?" I asked softly, nudging him lightly in the ribs.

"Yeah, no worries," he replied, his usual beaming smile returning to his handsome face.

The rest of the students made their way into the gym then, at the same time as the Coach arrived.

Gym wasn't exactly my _favorite_ class, per se, but it was alright.

The Coach — Coach Clapp — told us that we were playing volleyball today and he divided us into two teams.

Adrian wasn't on my team, but I didn't mind too much. That way, I'd be able to beat him.

Well, that's what I thought.

After a fairly even game, someone on the other team hit the ball straight in my direction.

It didn't really bother me, but I heard a voice coming from behind me telling me to look out. I turned and saw that it had been Alicia Raine speaking. I didn't look at her for long, though, because I was suddenly slammed harshly on the floor.

* * *

**A/N: Ah, dear readers, I'd just like to say that I'm going to be putting my other story, Alone, aside for a while and focus solely on this story. Hopefully no one hates me because of that, but this is more important to me right now. Sorry!**

**Don't forget that this is a special collaboration between a good friend — and amazing writer, by the way — StarStrellaStar (go check out her stories), and myself (YouAndMeUpInATree).**

**Please read and review!**


	2. Car Crashes, Invitations & Arm Wrestles

**Disclaimer:** **Oh my God, we just recently discovered that we don't own _Twilight_! Why didn't anyone tell us that before now?**

**Ah, but we still own Adrian *sigh***

**This is a collaboration between myself and StarStrellaStar (we know you love us).**

* * *

"_'Cause I'm too cool, too cool  
__Yeah, I'm too cool to know you  
__Don't take it personal, don't get emotional  
__You know it's the truth, I'm too cool for you_"

_Too Cool _by Meaghan Martin

* * *

**Chapter 2 — Car Crashes, Invitations & Arm Wrestles**

The heavy weight of the person who had slammed into me made me groan in pain.

Whoever it was must weight at least a tonne.

"Get off, you big monster," I complained, uselessly attempting to heave the person off of me.

I opened my eyes and was faced with the sight of a familiar face hovering directly above me. Ethan Clay.

God that guy was heavy. He looked heavy, yet when he was squishing me like this, he still managed to be even heavier than he looked.

He quickly scrambled to his feet and mumbled something I couldn't hear because the coach was suddenly on my side screaming right into my ear.

"Ms. Raine, escort Ms. Swan to the nurse," Coach Clapp said.

I flinched. What was it with this town and unnecessary volume?

Alicia Raine walked passed me, most likely expecting me to follow her. I hastily got to my feet and trailed after her.

"Hey, um, you don't really need to escort me, I'm fine," I told her.

She came to a sudden halt, turned around, and looked at me. Her movement was all in one fluid motion and it looked so graceful. I couldn't help but stare at her in complete awe and slight fascination. The way she moved was so effortless, it was like water waving in an ocean.

"You should get yourself checked out. You never know what could be wrong with you," she said. Her voice was just as soft and beautiful as everything else about her. It was very melodic and had a slight calming edge to it. She looked at me and I noticed her eyes. They were blue. But not just any blue — more like a deep, ocean blue. I thought Adrian's eyes were freaky, but hers somehow managed to top that. The color matched identically with the strange blue hue in her hair and I couldn't help but notice again how beautiful she was.

In conclusion, this school contained unnecessary noise makers and the most gorgeous people alive.

And I thought Forks was boring.

When I was able to pull myself out of my thoughts, I saw that Alicia had already turned around and continued walking, only to realize that I was still standing in the same spot like an idiot.

"Are you coming or what?" she asked. Her voice was different than it had been before. It had a new edge to it — more lively. Did she just pretend to be all calm and cool or what?

I hurried to catch up with her. We walked in silence for the rest of the short trip to the nurse's office.

We walked through the entrance and into the office. It was pure white and reminded me a lot of a hospital. It even had the same grotesque smell of chemicals and cleaners.

"Oh, hello," an overly friendly voice spoke. "What can I do for you?"

I looked to see who was speaking. The voice belonged to a blonde woman who looked to be in her thirties. She had a sticker on her shirt that said "Hello, my name is: Nurse Abigail."

Before I had the chance to answer her question, Alicia cut in.

"Isabella here collided with Ethan Clay. I think she may have a concussion." She spoke in a perfectly polite tone and I could even detect a very small smile playing on her lips while she conversed with the nurse.

"Ethan Clay," the nurse gasped. "Oh dear. Are you feeling alright, Ms. Swan?"

I didn't even bother to ask Blondie why she knew my surname.

"I'm fine, really. I don't even know why I got sent here," I practically whined.

"Everybody is sent to the nurses office after Ethan crashes into them. Normally those people are injured in some way, so this is the normal procedure," Alicia explained calmly to me.

She sat down gracefully on a chair and watched as the nurse checked my pulse, eyesight, hearing, and looked me over for injuries of any sort. I reluctantly answered Blondie's questions and let her do her job. I knew that I was perfectly fine. I mean seriously, I was a lot tougher than I looked. I don't know what kind of people Ethan usually runs over, but they must be very weak to be unable to handle him — sure he was huge and strong, but even me with my fairly small size could handle it.

I looked at Alicia the whole time. She was watching the nurse work and kept nodding her head slightly, the small smile still on her beautiful face. She looked almost like she was listening to some sort of music.

She kind of reminded me of an angel, only more like an angel of death with her dark clothing, hair, and make up. I started wondering how Adrian ever came up with the 'she-is-crazy' theory.

I didn't see it. She may have been a little bit weird, but so was I and I wasn't crazy, right?

After checking several more things, the nurse agreed that I was in good enough condition to be released and dismissed us.

"We can go and get changed now. I don't think there's any point in attending the last five minutes of gym class," Alicia informed me.

She seemed sort of passive, but for some reason, I had the feeling that she really wasn't. Maybe it was just an emo thing.

I found it really hard to figure this girl out. She was sort of like Alice in that way.

We both went back to the gym and into the change rooms. When I finished getting changed, I spoke.

"Thanks," I said to Alicia.

She gave me a small smile and vanished.

Yes, she really was a strange person.

I shook my head and grabbed my belongings, then headed out to the parking lot.

I was on my way to my car when I remembered something. Well, more like some_one_.

And no, it wasn't because I had such an awesome memory, but because I heard that person's voice repeating the same thing.

"Yo Bella, wait up!" the person screamed.

Of course it was Adrian. I sighed silently.

Adrian caught up with me quickly and once again, he slung his arm around my shoulder. He did it so casually that it was like we had known each other forever and not for like a day.

I rolled my eyes at him, but decided to just ignore his arm — he'd probably just put it back.

"So, how are you, my sweet?" he asked in a rather deep voice.

"Are you trying to be seductive?" I asked him, holding in laughter.

"Baby girl, you know that you like it — you always did."

"What are you talking about?"

Did he ever say anything that actually made sense?

"What am I talking about? You don't remember, baby?" Adrian asked dramatically as he looked at me with a completely shocked and slightly devastated expression.

"Remember what?" I really wanted to be annoyed with him, but somehow this was beginning to amuse me.

"All of the endless night, all of the times I told you that I loved you, and you simply forget?"

The boy was good, I'll admit that. He could play in a Soap Opera if he wanted to.

"Tell me what you've been taking and I may have to try some of it," I said with a giggle.

We got to my car and I hopped in. Adrian got into the passenger side and looked at me with a frustrated expression.

"What exactly do you remember?" he asked in a tone that almost sounded serious.

"What do you mean?"

"Is there anything that you remember?" he asked. "Anything at all about your previous life?"

I looked at him, my face twisted into a dumbfounded expression. What was he getting at?

"What's your name?" he asked me.

I started mentally questioning his sanity.

"Isabella Swan," I replied, giving him a look.

"What is today's date?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "The 30th, I think."

"Dammit," Adrian cursed, his lips turning into a slight pout.

"Are you done now?" I asked him carefully.

"Yeah, just drive, woman."

I rolled my eyes and pulled out of the parking lot. I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer, but I asked anyway.

"What was that all about?"

He shrugged. "I was hoping that you might have lost your memory after Ethan crashed into you, and if you did then I would have convinced you that you are my girlfriend." He was still pouting.

I laughed out loud. "You are the silliest person I have ever met," I told him, maneuvering into the parking lot of the police station.

"Yeah, I guess I am, but I'm also the most handsome guy you have ever met."

"I doubt that, but I don't want to ruin your dreams," I replied. "Not get out."

"Already gone. See ya in school."

He hastily clambered out of my car and jogged toward a gorgeous white Audi R8, giving me a little wave on his way.

I shook my head to myself and pulled away.

I arrived home quickly — not a big shock in a town as small as Forks — and went up to my room. I grabbed my _Wuthering Heights_ novel and began reading from where I stopped the previous day.

There was nothing else to do.

Although I loved reading and most definitely adored this book, I couldn't help but feel a little bit bored. But I didn't know what else I could do with my free time.

I sighed and put the book down, then stretched as I got up, trying to think of something I could do in this damn house to get rid of my boredom.

When nothing really came to mind, I decided to just make Charlie and me some dinner now to pass the time, and then go back to reading. I was never this bored when I was in Phoenix. I would go to the mall and hang out with friends or go to the beach and absorb the sun — I could never tan, no matter how hard I tried.

But this ridiculous, one-horse town didn't even have a mall. The closest one was on Port Angeles and that was an hour away. The next one was Seattle, but that was obviously too far for me to go now. Besides, what would I even do? Sit there by myself?

To say that I was slightly frustrated would be a huge understatement.

I decided to make Charlie some pasta. While I was cooking, I thought about everything that had happened today.

There wasn't very much to think about, really. I went to school, was dragged away from probably pounding some gossipy girls into the ground, met a freaky girl named Alice, completely bitched out a fake bitch named Lauren, and met Alice's brother, Edward, who seemed to hate me for no particular reason. I mean, that glare was really something. I had never seen eyes like that before.

I shivered a little when I remembered the death glare he had given me.

Why did I have to get the most unfriendly person in the entire world as my lab partner? Sure, I've done many things that I should be punished for, but not enough to deserve such a severely harsh punishment.

Sometimes I simply hated my life. In this moment, I was really hating it.

And it was all Edward Cullen's fault.

Maybe I should hate him instead.

He was going to regret being so rude to me. Not once will I offer him a nice word or a smile.

That's what you get for pissing me off.

At the end of the day, he will be begging for me to be his friend.

I shook my head when I realized my thoughts were heading in a sadistic direction, and focused back on making the pasta.

When the food was done, I realized that Charlie still wouldn't be home for at least another half an hour, so I covered the pot with a lid and turned the temperature down to a lower degree to keep it warm.

I grabbed my book and sat at the kitchen table, much like I had yesterday, and picked up where I left off.

The sound of tires crunching on the gravel of the driveway alerted me that Charlie had arrived home. I placed the book face-down on the table and got up, quickly turning the stove off and grabbing a couple of plates. I loaded a few scoops of pasta on each and then added some sauce to them. After grabbing the necessary utensils, I headed back over to the table and put the plates down, taking a seat.

"Bells, I'm home," I heard Charlie shout from the corridor.

"I know, Dad," I said back. "Hurry up or your dinner's going to get cold."

I heard the sound of his feet padding against the wooden floor as he came into the kitchen.

"Smells good," he commented as he took a seat.

I nodded my thanks.

"So how was school?" Charlie asked, shoveling a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

I swallowed mine, then spoke, "It was fine."

"You meet anyone?"

I shrugged. "Not really. I hung out with Adrian at lunch."

He frowned, but otherwise said nothing about Adrian. "Not really or not at all?"

"Not really," I confirmed. "I talked to a few people, mostly in gym class, but other than that, I pretty much met no one."

"Oh," he said. "Who did you talk to in gym?"

"Alicia Raine."

"Ah, she's a nice girl. A little quiet, but nice."

"Mhm."

"You like Forks High?"

"Yeah, it's fine, Dad."

That was pretty much the only conversation we held throughout dinner — it was mostly a silent event, just like it had been yesterday. I was starting to get used to this with Charlie. Dinner was so different back in Phoenix. I'd still be the one cooking since Renee couldn't cook anything edible to save her life, but it wouldn't be at all quiet while we ate. Renee was a chatterbox, to be honest. She never shut up. Either way, I loved her.

When dinner was over, I cleaned up and said goodnight to Charlie before heading upstairs. I did the same routine as I had last night — shower, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth and slid into my pajamas — and then hopped into bed.

When the constant beeping of my alarm rang out in the morning, I was so annoyed that I leaned over, picked up the clock and threw it at the wall. I was relieved when the sound stopped.

But then it started up again, this time faster.

I opened my eyes and glared at the ceiling, then huffed and forced myself out of bed. I went over to where the clock had landed and saw that when I threw it, the setting was switched from 'normal' to 'speedy', so the sound went faster. I picked it up and fix the speed, then turned it off and put it back on my bedside table.

I stretched my arms above my head, then rubbed my eyes in an attempt to get rid of my tiredness. It didn't work.

Glancing at the stupid alarm clock, I checked the time. It was 7:00. That freaking alarm clock didn't just annoy me first thing in the morning, but it also woke me up late. I groaned to myself.

I quickly ran into my closet and pull out an outfit — black skinny jeans, a white tank top with a navy blue sweater over top and a pair of white converse. After putting it on, I jogged into my bathroom and brushed my hair and teeth. My wavy hair wasn't looking to good today — it looked more like a haystack than hair — so I opted for throwing it in a high ponytail.

When I was ready, I ran down the stairs and saw that it had only taken me half an hour to get ready. I wasn't very hungry, so I decided to skip breakfast and flew out the door. I got into my car and threw my bag on the passenger seat. I reversed speedily out of the driveway and gunned it down the road.

I pulled into the school parking lot soon enough and hopped out of my car.

"Hey Bella," a voice whispered close to my ear as soon as I was out of the car. I jumped. Adrian's laugh was a beautiful sound, but I really wasn't in the mood to hear it right now. I slapped him on his arm and he instantly shut up.

"Ouch. Why do you keep doing that?" he asked, sounding much like a little kid.

"You nearly made my heart stop — I could have died," I snapped. My heart was still racing. I did not like it when people snuck up on me.

"Sorry, Bella."

I grunted.

"Let's go to class," Adrian said enthusiastically, grabbing my arm and dragging me toward the school building.

"Wait! I left my bag in my car," I said. He quickly let go of me and I walked back over to my car.

I grabbed my bag out of my car and was about to turn back to the school when I heard something strange. I glanced up. All I saw was Jay-Jay Flamel looking for something in her car, two vehicles down from me.

I heard a horrible screeching sound — it's distinct pitch made it easy to tell that it was tires on pavement — and decided to jog to the entrance of the parking lot to look down the road and see what was happening.

I never got that far, though.

I had just passed Jay-Jay when I saw a blue van entering the parking lot at a very high speed. The way the van's wheels screeched when the van turned to me made me immediately expect the worst.

From all of the cars in the parking lot, Jay-Jay's was closest, and she was just getting out of that car.

My reaction was instinctive.

I dropped my bag and ran over to where Jay-Jay was standing. She had just noticed the van. I grabbed her and pulled her along with me. The van was close — I could have touched it if I wanted to — so I dove forward with Jay-Jay on my arm.

I hit the ground painfully with a light thud. I was extremely relieved when the van didn't hit us.

Her car, however, wasn't quite that lucky.

The van had crashed into Jay-Jay's car and it seemed like the driver was hurt, but I couldn't pay anymore attention to that, because I wanted to make sure Jay-Jay was alright.

"Who do you think you are?" she asked icily. She slowly got up and dusted off her clothes.

Even in all of this mess she was beautiful.

"I think I'm the one who just saved your life," I snapped back at her. Why couldn't she just thank me for saving her Little Miss Pageant ass?

"I would have been able to save myself," she replied with a glare in my direction.

"Yeah, well you didn't — I did. So how about a thank you?"

"How about you getting out of my way?" she barked, pushing passed me.

As soon as she stalked off into the school she was surrounded by her little club again.

Was it too much to say that I was already starting to hate the girl?

I rolled my eyes and walked over to where I had left my bag and picked it up, then marched toward the school with a glare set on my face.

Why was that girl being such a bitch when I had just saved her _life_?

"You alright, Bella?" Adrian's worried voice piped from right beside me as I made my way into the school, effectively startling me again.

"God, stop doing that!" I yelled angrily.

"So you jump in front of a van and rescue a total stranger like some sort of superhero, but you get startled when I appear beside you?" He chuckled. "No offense, Princess, but you're not making sense."

"Whatever." I huffed and walked off to Calculus, not bothering to wait for Adrian.

I knew I was being a bit of a bitch to him, but it wasn't my fault. If my alarm clock hadn't pissed me off this morning and made me wake up late, I wouldn't be nearly as angry today. But then Jay-Jay had to go and act all bitchy and superior when I rescued her, and not even _thank_ me...I sighed. I wasn't being fair to Adrian at all. He just scared me and it made me snap, so I took my anger out on him.

I took my seat in Calculus and waited for Adrian. He walked in a couple of moments later with his head down. He strolled over to me and sat in his desk beside me.

I nudged him. "Hey," I said softly. "Look, I'm really sorry for snapping at you." It was actually sort of an honor to get a genuine apology from me since I'm not the type to say sorry constantly.

He looked up and smiled at me. "It's okay, baby girl."

Wow, _nothing_ brought this boy down.

I grinned. "Don't forget about that twenty bucks you owe me."

Rolling his eyes, he said, "I won't."

"Good," I replied, yawning.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" he asked, slightly amused.

I shook my head. "Yeah, but my alarm clock woke me up late and it was so annoying...I ended up throwing it at a wall."

He laughed. "You threw it at a wall?"

"Don't laugh," I mumbled. "That's a serious issue. I'm grumpy when I don't get enough sleep."

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed," he said, mocking shock.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Just shut up."

"I would...but then there would be no one to warn you that the two biggest Jay-Jay fans are heading in our direction right now, and I'm sure they ain't here because of me."

I frowned slightly at him. How had I not noticed his southern accent before?

I would have liked to concentrate on that little mystery instead of talking to the two beauty queens that now stood in front of where Adrian and I sat.

One of them had golden blonde hair that I could tell was natural — not fake and dyed like other people I had met. She smiled brightly at me.

She looked like she had just stepped out of one of those high school movies where the popular kids are always dressed to perfection and looked beautiful no matter what.

Just like the girl beside her.

She had long orange curls and green eyes. She was pretty as well, though I thought it was more due to the make up she wore rather than natural beauty.

At least they did a better job at dressing up than Lauren.

"You're Isabella Swan, right?" The blonde asked.

"Yeah," I answered, yawning again. Both of the girls were beaming brightly at me as the one with orange hair handed me a piece of paper.

I know it sounds really weird, but the paper itself was beautiful. It was flat and crisp and it looked like it was from a hotel or something. It had words written on it in pretty golden cursive script.

_We, the Jay-Club, invite you to sit with us at lunch for the rest of the week. This is a very special honor and it is not offered to just anyone, so please be aware of that fact._

_Sitting with us is a big responsibility, because we have to do everything in our might to be the best friends possible for Jay-Jay Flamel._

_During this one week, we will be judging whether or not we think you are suitable to become a part of the Jay-Club, so if you plan on being a member, you should respect the following rules:_

_1) You must dress nicely, because Jay-Jay does not tolerate ugliness. She does not like to be seen with people who are not dressed properly or who wear last seasons clothes._

_2) Jay-Jay never buys her own lunch. She will pick what she wants from each person's tray, so please be extra careful not to buy any unhealthy food items._

_3) Jay-Jay does not like to talk about her family, so please be kind and not ask her about it._

_4) Always compliment Jay-Jay and tell her that you like her accent — it makes her smile._

_5) Sometimes Jay-Jay is not in school. She does not like to speak of these days. She has very unstable health and it makes her feel uncomfortable to talk about this weakness._

_6) Each of us wants to be Jay-Jay's best friends. Unfortunately, Jay-Jay is too kind-hearted to choose only of us. Therefore it is not acceptable for any of us to do outside activities alone with Jay-Jay. It is required that at least one other member of the club is present at all times._

_If you follow all of these rules, you will soon be in the heart of Jay-Jay._

It took all of my self-control not to burst out laughing at this. What has the world come to?

"So we'll see you at lunch, right, Isabella?" The blonde asked.

"Of course you might see me," I replied slowly.

That was all it took to make the two girls giggle and walk away to their seats.

"You're going to eat lunch with the zombies?" Adrian asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"I never said that," I replied. "I simply say that they will see me at lunch. Who knows? If they keep their eyes open, they might actually see me."

"Nice," Adrian answered.

Mr. Bergner appeared then to begin his unbearably long and boring lesson. I dozed off as soon as the first word left his mouth.

"Bella," I heard a distant voice. "Bella," the voice repeated. "Bella, wake up."

I felt something shaking me lightly and I groaned. "What?"

I heard a chuckle. "The bell rang."

"Go away," I mumbled.

The person sighed. "C'mon, baby girl, you gotta get to English."

I opened my eyes and winced as the bright fluorescent lights beamed into them. I looked over to Adrian.

"Why'd you wake me up?" I whined.

"I already said that the bell rang."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Fine." I grabbed my bag from the floor beside my seat and yawned, rubbing my eyes.

"Still tired?" Adrian asked.

"What do you think?" I replied sarcastically.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," he said cheerfully.

I swear there is nothing in this world that can rain on his parade.

He slung his arm over my shoulder. I was too tired to say or do anything about it.

"I'll walk you to English."

I grunted, mumbling something unintelligible as he guided me down the hall.

When we got to my English classroom, he smiled at me.

"See ya' at lunch, Princess."

"Bye."

I walked into the classroom and quickly took my seat.

The class was so boring that I was surprised when I didn't fall asleep. I felt like it many times, but the teacher glared at me every time he noticed my eyelids drooping.

Alice Cullen didn't talk to me today, but that didn't bother me. I was too out of it with my lack of sleep to really hold a conversation anyway.

Spanish went by quickly but I was unable to get any sleep there, either. It annoyed me, but the teacher's voice was so loud and squeaky that there was no way I would be able to fall sleep _—_ no matter how tired I was.

I strolled into the cafeteria and went straight to the skater table where Adrian sat. I was too tired and lazy to bother getting lunch today.

I turned the chair beside Adrian sideways and slumped down, putting my legs on his lap and sinking into the seat.

"You should really start saying something," Adrian said.

"Why? Don't you like it?" I asked, my words jumbled by a yawn.

"Nah, it's cool," he said, glancing at where my tray should be. "Aren't you hungry, Princess?"

"Yeah, I am actually _—_ I didn't eat breakfast, but I'm too lazy to stand in line to get something."

"What do you want to eat?"

"I don't care," I mumbled, then spotted his delicious-looking salty fries. "I want your fries."

"You can have them," Adrian said.

"Hand them over _—_ I'm too tired to move."

Adrian chuckled. "You want me to feed you too, Princess? Apparently you're too tired to do anything. You shouldn't strain yourself with any movements."

"Oh, would you do that?"

Who cares what people think? I was hungry and tired.

Not a good combination.

"For you? Always, baby girl," he said. When he finished, he actually started feeding me fries.

I probably would have laughed in a situation like this if I hadn't been so tired. To the people around us, we must have really looked like a couple.

Adrian held a fry in front of my face and I slowly _—_ tiredly — closed my mouth around it.

"Dude, I thought you said she's not your girlfriend?" One of the unknown skater boys asked.

"Oh, things changed after we spent the night together." Adrian grinned smugly.

I rolled my eyes, but decided to play along just this once — he was feeding me, after all.

"Yeah, last night really changed my opinions on life," I purred, fluttering my eyelashes at Adrian. It was hard to do with how tired I was — it was difficult to keep my eyes open.

Adrian looked at me with a surprised expression. The sucker probably thought that I would have snapped at him by now.

"Way to go, Adrian," Michael cheered, but was quickly distracted by someone turning up behind me.

I turned around and saw that it was the two Barbie dolls from earlier. They stood in front of me, their faces holding nothing even close to their earlier friendliness.

"Heya guys," I slurred. I probably sounded drunk, even though I was only tired.

"You reject our once-in-a-lifetime offer, just to hang out with a bunch of skateboarding losers?" The blonde asked in utter disbelief.

"Um, yeah?" I replied, though it sounded more like a question.

"And Adrian Skye is your boyfriend? Are you serious?" The orange-haired one asked in disgust.

"Sure, why not?"

"This is so against the Jay-Codex. You will never be a part of the Jay-Club."

"What? No! You can't do this to me!" I shouted, holding my hand out in a dramatic manner.

"Oh, it wasn't us who did this — it was you," they answered simultaneously, obviously thinking that I was serious.

I placed a hand over my heart and whispered, "Be strong, Bella, you will survive." I sniffed and turned my head so that my hair covered my face. I was shaking with silent laughter.

"Cry all you want — we don't care." They turned around and stalked off.

I wasn't able to hold in my laughter anymore and it burst it of me. I laughed so hard that tears began to run down my face. The boys joined in as soon as they realized that I wasn't actually crying.

"What exactly is wrong with those girls? Are they really like that, or are they getting paid to act?" I asked. "Oh, God, I have got to get one of those girls as a pet — I bet it would be highly entertaining." I giggled.

"Oh, that is real — they did the exact same thing when Rosalie Hale and Alice Cullen refused their offer."

I laughed louder, only have my happy laughter interrupted when someone sat down on the chair next to me.

I turned and looked into the brilliant green eyes of Ethan Clay.

It seemed like nearly everyone in this school had freaky colored eyes. I wouldn't be surprised if someone with red eyes turned up.

"Err...hey," Ethan said. His voice was deep with a slightly rough edge to it.

"Hey." I looked at him in surprise.

What was he doing here? If he wanted to squish me again, it'd probably be in my best interest to run.

"What do you want here, Clay? Don't you have some cheerleaders to play with?" Adrian asked, not really paying attention to Ethan since he was so focused on eating fries.

He better leave some for me.

"Have you ever seen me with a cheerleader?" Ethan asked, his voice taking on a slightly irritated sound.

Adrian shrugged and Ethan glared at him.

"So, what do you want?" I asked, being much more polite than Adrian had been.

"Oh, yeah, I wanted to apologize — you know, because I crashed into you yesterday in Gym. I'm, uh, really sorry, I just didn't see you. I would've apologized yesterday, but I got kinda scared that I may have seriously injured you, and after you didn't return to class, I was in a bit of a panic."

"Don't worry about me — I'm a lot tougher than I look. I didn't have even a scratch," I boasted happily.

"Really? When I ran over Skye he had a really bad concussion and didn't remember anything that happened the week before." Ethan's lips turned into a slight smirk.

Ah, so that's why Adrian came up with that little Soap Opera act. I turned to look at him and saw that he was facing the other way, probably embarrassed.

"Well, I'm fine," I said. "Don't worry about it. Although I must admit, you're pretty heavy."

"All muscle. Wanna arm wrestle me, tough girl?"

Again with the nicknames. Was it really that hard to use my real name? Bella. How difficult could it be to say a five letter, easily pronounced name — especially when two of the letters were the same.

I grinned at Ethan. "Sure. What do I get when you lose?"

"Hmm." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "How about 20 bucks?"

"Nah, I'm already taking money from Adrian — I don't want to make anyone else poor."

I heard Adrian grumble something, but chose to ignore him.

"Fine. If I lose, I'll be your servant for two weeks. If you lose..." Ethan looked me up and down, then grinned mischievously. You'll try out for the cheer squad."

Oh _hell_ no!

There was absolutely no way that I would be a cheerleader. Well, I originally planned to play fair, but that condition was too much...this boy isn't going to know what hit him.

I took a deep breath and once again, I let every unnecessary emotion go.

My eyes saw things more defined, and my ears could detect quiet chatter from the other side of the room. The inhuman strength surged through me and I positioned myself to arm wrestle Ethan.

"On the count of three," Ethan instructed. "One, two, th—"

"Three," I grunted and used some strength to press against his hand.

It would have been very easy to defeat him in this state, but I couldn't let people see how quickly and easily I could overpower him with pure strength in such a small body. I acted as if I was having a hard time keeping this up and at the moment, it looked like we were evenly matched.

"Oh, Clay! You losing to a girl?" Adrian commented.

Ethan's expression hadn't been too happy before, but then Adrian said that and he began glaring at him.

He was distracted, so I took the opportunity to press harder. His hand hit the table before he had the chance to begin concentrating again.

I grinned smugly. "You'll start tomorrow by carrying my bag everywhere I want you too. Oh, and my books."

"He can get your lunch for you, too, Bella," Adrian added cheerfully. "Maybe he can even feed you."

Ethan groaned, his face still a mask of shock as he asked, "How did you beat me?"

I shrugged. "I told you, I'm tough."

The bell rang then and I grabbed my bag.

Smiling at Ethan, I said, "Don't forget that you start tomorrow. See you in Gym." I spun around, a lot more awake and full than I had been earlier, and practically skipped to Biology.

I took my seat quickly, internally rejoicing when I saw that Cullen wasn't there yet.

My internal happy dance didn't last long.

"Hello," a musical voice said from beside me.

I ignored it.

"Hi," it spoke again, "I'm Edward Cullen."

I ignored him, setting my jaw angrily.

"I'm terribly sorry for my rudeness during yesterday's class," he said.

I turned and glared at him icily. "You think you can just randomly glare at me for no reason one day, and then be all 'Hi, I'm Edward Cullen' the next? Well, you can't." I spun around and faced the front of the class.

He tried talking to me again, but I simply ignored him and focused on listening to Mr. Banner's lecture on the stages of mitosis.

When the bell rang, I packed up my stuff and made my way to the door, only to have a cold hand stop me.

"I am very sorry," Edward said. I briefly thought about going easier on him than I had originally planned, but then he just _had_ to continue, "But you weren't being very polite during today's class, either, so I'll forgive you."

And with that, every minor piece of sympathy I felt for the boy went out the window and was replaced by sheer anger and rage.

I looked at him in disbelief. "_You'll _forgive _me_?" I asked angrily. "Oh, well, now isn't that rich, Mr. Pretty Boy. I was only like this because _you_ were being an ass all class yesterday, so don't go trying to tell me that you forgive me when I didn't do anything wrong. If you hadn't glared at me for no good reason, then you probably wouldn't be on my hate list right now. Then again, your current attitude is absolutely not helping your case." I shrugged his icy hand off of me and practically stomped out of the room and to the gym.

Much like the previous Gym class, it didn't take me very long to change.

When I entered the gym, I went to sit down on one of the benches where Adrian was seated.

"Bella, how come you change so much faster than any other girl in the school?" he asked me, chuckling.

"Because I'm a lot cooler than every other girl in school." I laughed.

"You shouldn't say that so loud, Jay-Jay is headed in our direction. You're lucky that she's not surrounded by her fan club for once," Adrian mumbled, looking at the approaching person.

I turned and looked at her as well, noting that she looked a little annoyed.

"Move boy," she said to Adrian in such a casual manner that I began wondering if she expected everyone to respond to her every command.

He moved over instantly, causing me to roll my milk chocolate brown eyes at him. Didn't he at least have some dignity?

Jay-Jay smirked slightly and sat down beside me, staring ahead.

"You didn't sit with us at lunch," she stated bluntly, calmly. Now that she wasn't screeching at me, I actually came to find that I liked the sound of her voice. It was the complete opposite of Alicia's, yet just as beautiful. Hers held a warm and rich tone that went very well with her overall fiery demeanor.

I also subtly took notice of her slight accent. I couldn't exactly place it, though. Was she perhaps Arabic?

"No, I didn't," I answered lightly. "How could you tell?"

She flicked her gaze back to me, looking on with more annoyance than before.

"Who exactly do you think you are?" she hissed.

"I thought we had that discussion earlier. I'm the one who saved your life."

Jay-Jay sighed. Was it just me or did I hear the sound of her surrender?

"I had specifically requested for you to sit with us at lunch as a thank you for your totally unnecessary Heroine act."

Apparently not.

"Unnecessary? If it wasn't for me, you would be no more than just a pretty stamp."

Jay-Jay carried on, as if she hadn't even heard me, though I knew she had.

"You know, I usually don't request for anyone to sit with me at lunch, so this was a really big deal."

"Oh, I'm sorry but I didn't particularly like the rules that came along with sitting at the same table as you," I replied sarcastically.

She turned to look at me again and blinked, confused.

"Rules? What rules?"

Adrian coughed to disguise a laugh and I gave her a look of disbelief.

"The rules that were on the invitation that your two pets gave me."

Jay-Jay frowned. "I don't know anything about an invitation. I simply asked Brittany and Lucy to request that you sit with us."

Adrian coughed even harder and Jay-Jay whipped her head around, glaring at him.

"What the hell is your problem?" she hissed at him.

"Oh _please_, you can't honestly expect us to believe that you know nothing about the rules, can you? It is your club after all."

Jay-Jay released another sigh and I didn't get the chance to study her face to place the emotion drawn all over it.

"Whatever," she said. "If you would have come to sit with us, then I would have discussed the incident from earlier today with you, but now all I can say is that it was rather unnecessary, but I guess I should be grateful that you did something so stupid."

She finished speaking and rose from the bench, gracefully sauntering off toward her fan girls.

Judging by her hand gestures and body language, she was yelling at them.

"Whoa, Jay-Jay just thanked you," Adrian told me, leaning his head against my shoulder.

I shrugged him off.

"That was not a thank you. Did you even once hear her say the word?"

"Don't complain — that might be the best you get out of her. I'm actually surprised that she even attempted to do that."

I rolled my eyes and shrugged. "She's a bitch with potential and that's that," I said. "Now c'mon, let's play some soccer," I finished, nodding my head toward where Coach Clapp was calling everyone in to give the rules for the game. I figured it was soccer judging by the fact that he was holding a soccer ball underneath of his foot.

"Fine, baby girl," Adrian said, slinging his arm around my shoulders and leading us to the coach.

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**A/N: Ah, dearest readers, it seems that StarStrellaStar and I have completed another chapter! Feel free to express how proud you are of us through a review. All that is required of you is that you click the button below, then type in some - preferably encouraging - words to let us know how you feel about the story/chapter, oh, and click submit. Hey, if you want, you can even write how awesomely amazing you think we are. It's okay, we all know it's the truth.**

**P.S. Sorry for the shorter chapter - we tried to make it as long as we could, but even with our awesome plot, it simply didn't work out in length.**

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	3. Slaves, Reverse Psychology & The Mall

**Disclaimer: We're using someone else's characters in our story. Hehe, we're naughty. Oh, and they belong to Stephenie Meyer, in case you aren't **_**Twilight **_**enough to know that...but you probably are if you're reading this...so, without further ado read on!**

**This is a collaboration between myself and StarStrellaStar.**

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"_I'm a slave for you  
I cannot hold it, I cannot control  
I'm a slave for you  
I won't deny it, I'm not trying to hide it_"

_I'm A Slave 4 U _by Britney Spears

* * *

**Chapter 3 — Slaves, Reverse Psychology & The Mall**

The next morning I woke up on time, mentally apologizing to my alarm clock for having thrown it at the wall yesterday. I didn't feel nearly as tired as I had the day before.

I quickly got ready, and as I was pulling on a pair of white skinny jeans, a plum purple tee, and a pair of purple converse, a wicked thought crossed my mind.

I laughed evilly to myself and went over to my bookshelf. I took a couple of books from it and put them all into my bag.

I had some troubles with lifting it, but eventually managed and skipped down the stairs to have a quick breakfast.

Hurriedly, I ate some yogurt and a granola parfait, then left the house.

"Bella!" Adrian's voice floated to me through my car window in it's usual cheery tone as I pulled into the school parking lot.

I hopped out of the car and saw Adrian walking toward me with Ethan by his side. It looked to me like those two were getting along really well.

I smirked a little when the thought of Ethan having to carry my bag ran through my mind. Thanks to me winning the arm wrestling yesterday, he would have to be my slave for two full weeks and I planned to get the best out of it.

My smirk was still full blown on my lips when Adrian and Ethan made it to me.

Adrian gave me a wary, cautious look — probably due to my slightly evil smirk — as he said, "Mornin' baby girl," and placed his arm around my shoulder. Seriously, was he _ever_ going to stop?

I had a feeling the answer was no.

"Morning," I replied, then turned to Ethan and happily chirped, "Good morning! Are you prepared to start your two weeks of slavery?"

Ethan glared at me and I think I may have heard him growl. "I'd rather not, but what choice do I have?" His question was rhetorical.

I shrugged, "You can start by carrying my bag."

"What did you put in this thing?" Ethan groaned as he lifted my bag, "Bricks?"

"Oh, that's a good idea, but no, I actually put books in it." I sent an overly sweet smile his way.

It was his own fault, he just had to offer eternal slavery. Well, maybe not _eternal_, but definitely enough for me to think of evil ways to torture him.

Adrian gasped. "I think I forgot to mention to you what a lovable and sweet person Bella is. I'm sorry, Ethan, I should have told you sooner," he said in mock sympathy, going as far as clapping Ethan on his back, making him stumble a little.

While Adrian and I were walking to first period, in a completely carefree manner, making jokes and jabs at Ethan's current situation, Ethan was helplessly suffering with the weight of my bag. Poor boy.

After we arrived in the Calculus classroom, Ethan sat my bag down beside my desk and quickly scampered out of the room to get to his first class. Meanwhile, I noticed that the Barbie dolls didn't look very happy today.

"Hey, what do you think happened to the Jay-Jay worshippers?" I nudged Adrian in the ribs while asking him.

"Maybe she finally dumped them," he suggested with a light shrug.

Right then, Mr. Bergner himself appeared, killing every conversation in the classroom because people were starting to pull out their pillows. I could set up an entire bed in the middle of the room and I highly doubt he would even notice that I was sleeping, even if I was snoring louder than he was talking.

After an incredibly boring lesson, Adrian and I stepped out of the classroom. As I turned to walk to English, I heard a loud crash and a shriek, followed by a groan of pain. I turned back around and saw that Adrian's skateboarding through the hallways had actually gone wrong for once. He'd collided with Jay-Jay. I did my best to hide my laughter, but it still spilled over my lips. I didn't even bother moving to help either one of them.

"Sorry, sorry, I know I'm late but Mr. Banner wouldn't let us go." Ethan appeared beside me, out of breath as he took my bag from me. This time, it seemed as if the weight had no effect on him at all.

Strange.

I was still looking at the two people laying on the ground in front of me. It looked like Jay-Jay had been carrying a stack of papers — which were currently flying around the corridor — when Adrian and her crashed into one another.

"What kind of idiot attempts to skate through the school?" I heard her hiss. Apparently she hadn't learned how to be friendly yet.

Her two Barbie dolls appeared and hastily started to collect the papers while Jay-Jay got up, shook her hair, and walked off. The two idiots rushed after her.

"Well," Adrian started, "that was interesting. I don't think any boy has ever come that close to her." He hopped to his feet quickly.

"Not true. Sebastian Underwood used to brag about how they made out last summer at the beach," Ethan piped.

I rolled my eyes. "Less talking, more walking. I need to get to class before twilight," I said as I pushed Ethan in the right direction and gave Adrian a small wave. He was already skating around the corner, but waved back nonetheless.

"You're late," Alice stated when I let myself fall into the empty seat next to her.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I didn't know you were waiting for me."

"I wasn't really, I just noticed that you're later than usual." Her voice turned slightly confused while her expression became curious. "How exactly did you managed to get _Ethan Clay_ to carry your things? I think I must have missed something."

I shrugged and said, "I beat him at arm wrestling."

"Wow, you must be really strong, then," she said, looking at me with something close to awe.

"Are you trying to flirt or something? Because, although you're gorgeous, I'm really not into girls. Sorry. Maybe you should talk to your boyfriend about this...I think he would want to know."

Alice looked at me with a funny epxression on her elfin face before she let out a tinkling laugh. It was a rather beautiful sound. It was high saprano and sounded like chiming bells or something close to it. I couldn't help but grin a little myself.

"You're funny, Bella. And I have a feeling that we are going to be very good friends."

"We are?" We never really spoke to each other, aside from today, except for when she told me I was pretty.

"Yes, I can see it. We're going to be like best friends. You should do something about your issues with my brother, though," Alice informed me while staring into space.

"I don't have _issues_ with your brother. He's the one with the problem. _I_ just don't like him." Okay, this had made perfect sense in my head.

"You know what? I think we should go shopping. Maybe Rose will join us. Oh, it'll be so much fun," she squealed, clapping her dainty hands together excitedly. I was staring with frightened, wide eyes. The way she said the word 'fun' actually scared me a little.

"Um, yeah, we definitely have to do something like that sometime," I replied slowly.

"Not sometime," she said, then her expression turned a little demanding. "Tomorrow."

"But—" I tried to protest. I really didn't want to go shopping, especially not with her.

I mean, what if she turned out to be some sort of psychopathic serial killer?

"No 'buts', we're going. I know where you live, so you better cooperate," she said in a threatening voice.

"Yes, ma'am." I'm a little reluctant to admit that I actually saluted her.

"Great! We're going to have so much fun together," she said sweetly, her smile beaming brightly and showing off her perfect set of pearly whites.

I wouldn't be surprised if I got whiplash from this girls mood swings.

Seriously, my neck was already starting to hurt.

Thankfully, before I could get a headache from her sudden emotion changes, the bell rang.

Wow, that class went by really fast.

Luckily, there were no other events worth mentioning during my other classes. Well, it was highly amusing when Ethan had to run from his classes to mine to carry my bag around. He was getting really good exercise, so he shouldn't complain.

When we reached the cafeteria, I also made him carry my tray along with his own. By the time we reached the table where Adrian sat, Ethan sank down on one of the chairs in exhaustion.

"Well, well, well, did Bella already get everything out of you?" Adrian asked with a full mouth.

"Not everything, but more than enough," Ethan answered.

"Isn't it nice that you still have two weeks left?" I asked cheerily.

"Wonderful. Did you ever think of becoming a coach? You're actually doing a better job than our coach is."

"Yes, I've thought about it. Maybe I will some day in the future when I'm drunk," I told him.

The chair between Adrian and I was moved. All of the guys sitting at the table turned to gawk at the person next to me with open mouths.

Jay-Jay didn't seem to notice this, but if she did, she pretended not to, simply sitting down next to me and placing a book on the table.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her carefully, probably wearing a very freaky expression on my face.

"Sitting, as you can see," she answered, crossing her legs in one swift motion and opening the book. I couldn't read the title. It was in Arabic or something like that.

"And _why_ are you sitting here? Don't you have your special VIP area for that?" I pressed. I didn't care if I sounded rude, I just wanted some answers.

Jay-Jay looked up and opened her mouth to reply when she was interrupted by another person deciding to sit down at our table.

Alicia silently slid into the seat next to Adrian, letting a whole pile of books fall onto the table.

"We need to start now. We'll work on this every lunch break because I don't want to visit you at home, and I certainly don't want you visiting me," she said all of this in a calm manner while Adrian looked a little disturbed.

"Dude, why is the crazy chick here?" Michael asked. All of the other secondary characters nodded.

_Secondary characters? Wow, Bella, nice way to speak about people that are somewhat your friends. Okay, so maybe they're my friend's friends, but they're close enough..._

Adrian sighed, pulled off his black beanie and ruffled his silvery blond hair quickly before sliding it back on. "We have to do a project together in Biology about the reproduction of mammals," he mumbled.

At first, I wasn't sure if I had heard it right. But when Ethan burst into laughter, I couldn't stop myself from joining him. I think I even spotted a small, tight smile on Jay-Jay's face.

Alicia's face was completely emotionless, but I could have sworn I spotted the tiniest hint of annoyance.

And I'm pretty sure I saw Adrian blushing.

"This will be a topic you know nothing about," Jay-Jay commented.

In some ways, she was just as calm as Alicia, but Alicia's calmness seemed to be real, as if it was her nature, while Jay-Jay's seemed more like she was trying to keep herself in control, almost like she was about to burst at any moment.

It would be funny to see the both of them drunk one day.

"Hello? Back to the previous topic." I stopped laughing. "Why are you sitting here?" I asked Jay-Jay again.

"Well you didn't sit with me yesterday, now did you?" she asked rhetorically, turning a page in her book.

I let out an exasperated sigh. "If you came here to enjoy my presence, don't you think you should be acknowledging it first? Instead of sitting here, reading a book, and completely ignoring us."

"I am acknowledging your presence. I'm talking to you, am I not?"

"Yeah, but you're not really fun to talk to," I mumbled.

"So you don't want me here, then?" Jay-Jay asked lightly, turning another page in her book. It was like all of this didn't even concern her. In a way, she was just as careless as Adrian right now. Only she was much more bitchy and I knew she did it on purpose.

"I know it might be shocking to you, but people don't just start liking you for no reason," Adrian told her, obviously not working on his project.

"Wow. I never would have figured that out. You know what else is strange? That you, of all people, have to do a project about sex, even though you know nothing about it. I don't think I've ever seen you with a girl," she countered.

"You've been keeping tabs on me?" Adrian asked teasingly.

All Jay-Jay did was frown and say, "I know pretty much everything about everyone. I like to be informed."

"There is the keyword: information. Adrian, start working and you might actually learn something," Alicia said. Her voice wasn't worked up or anything. It was as calm and melodic as ever, making me wonder if there was anything that could make her lose her cool.

Ethan let out another loud laugh. "Oh man, Skye, it really sucks to be you. Girls are only talking to you just to insult you, did you notice that?"

"Shut up, Clay! I know you're just jealous," Adrian responded.

"What's there to be jealous of?" Ethan retorted in a joking manner.

A broad grin spread across Adrian's face. He looked like he was going to say something, but someone else beat him to it.

"Does anyone else feel like we're being ignored?" One of Adrian's friends asked suddenly. I didn't know his name, since I had actually been ignoring them.

A few of the others nodded their heads in reply.

"Aw, come on guys, we're not ignoring you. Right?" Adrian protested, then looked at me, Ethan, Jay-Jay, and Alicia in question.

"As a matter of fact, I am," came Jay-Jay's dry reply. She turned another page in her book while Adrian stared at her in disbelief.

"I generally don't bother to pay atteniton to more or less unimportant beings," Alicia commented, her voice calm and devoid of any emotion. If there was any emotion showing through, though, it would have been boredom judging by the look on her face. She didn't even look up from the book she was reading while she spoke.

"Who exactly are you anyway?" Ethan asked the guy who had spoken.

"Guys don't be so rude to my friends," Adrian complained.

I kept my mouth shut and watched the scene in front of me. I felt sort of bad for feeling slightly amused at the situation and bickering.

"I'm outta here," said Adrian's friend, getting up and grabbing his stuff to leave. The others followed in suit.

"Come on! You're not really taking them seriously, are you? They were just joking," Adrian said, his voice practically whining.

"I wasn't," Jay-Jay said with a nonchalant shrug.

"I don't joke." Alicia was busily writing on a sheet of paper, occasionally glancing at the book that was now propped up on the table in front of her.

"Not at all," Ethan replied at the same time.

Michael raised his eyebrows at that. "I don't think they're joking," he commented.

"Later, Adrian," one of the other guys said, then left.

"Yeah, see you when you're less popular again," Michael said, and turned to leave as well.

"I'm not popular. Where did that come from?" Adrian's voice wasn't sad, but he seemed kind of frustrated.

"You kind of are, since I'm sitting at the table," Jay-Jay remarked. "And Bella claimed to be your girlfriend yesterday, so you are in fact, more interesting than you've ever been."

Why were they all so keen on ruining Adrian's friendships?

Adrian opened his mouth and shut it again twice before Michael shook his head sadly and left, the others trailing behind him.

"Way to go," Adrian said sarcastically. "You got rid of my friends." He looked at the three guilty ones.

"I don't like them," Alicia stated.

"Are you sure that they're really your friends?" Ethan asked.

"Who cares? They're just a bunch of losers, anyway," was Jay-Jay's comment.

In a way, this was actually really funny. But I still felt sorry for Adrian. My apologetic feelings didn't last long, though, because Adrian relaxed and looked less frustrated than he had before.

"Ah, you're right. We weren't that close anyway. Guess I just have to find more interesting people to hang with." Adrian sighed in defeat.

"Why? Are we not interesting enough for you?" I asked in mock hurt.

Adrian's eyes suddenly lit up. "We could be the new cool clique. I bet we would be great friends."

Now where the hell did he get that idea from?

"No thanks," Jay-Jay, always the kind one, said. It only made imagining her as a friend that much more difficult.

"I don't do cliques," Alicia said, her voice just as calm and emotionless as always.

"What? Are you not hanging around with the other emo people anymore?" Ethan asked.

Alicia looked up and threw him a fierce glare. It scared me, and her dark demeanor managed to add to that. "That is because we understand each other. It has nothing to do with _cliques_," she said.

Yes, even if I liked her, I didn't see how we were going to be "great friends."

"Seriously, Skye, how did you even come up with that insanely stupid idea?" Ethan laughed. Ahh, maybe it would work with him.

"As soon as I'm done with my slave duties, I'm outta here," he continued.

And maybe not.

Still, Adrian's idea was oddly appealing to me. For some reason, I felt like it was the best thing I could do. I suddenly wanted to keep the five of us together, and make our small group a parmanent constellation.

But how in the world do you get an anti-social emo, a self-centered bitch, a jokey jock, and an annoying skaterboy together? Especially when, in some ways, they were all like little kids. And what worked best with little kids? How did you get kids to do things when they were adamant not to?

You use reverse psychology.

I held in a smirk as I spoke in the most disgusted tone I could muster. "Seriously Adrian, how do you even come up with these ridiculously stupid ideas? Who would want to be friends with them?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jay-Jay snapped, finally setting the book she was reading down.

"It means that I couldn't imagine a single person on this planet, who would like to spend the day with any of you. You're no fun to hang around with," I answered.

"Hey! I'm plenty of fun to hang out with. What do you know, anyway?" Ethan sneered.

"I would _love_ to say that you're the most boring person I have ever met, but I've already met Alicia," I replied with an overly sweet smile on my face.

Alicia looked up from her own book and gave me one of the scariest, fiercest glares I had ever seen. But I kept myself composed.

"Don't judge people when you don't even know them," she hissed, finally showing some emotion. Even if it was anger.

"Normally, I wouldn't," I said. "But it's not like you let anyone get to know you. You just ignore everyone around you and go sit in a corner to cut yourself."

Yeah, I was being mean. A bitch, even. But maybe, just maybe, my plan would work out.

At least, I hoped it would.

"I do _not_ cut myself," Alicia said through clenched teeth, her eyes blazing. It was strange, her deep, ocean blue eyes seemed as if they were coming alive. Seriously, I could hardly see it, but it looked like there were angry waves from the ocean crashing in her eyes.

It was probably just my imagination. I shrugged it off and focused back on playing my part.

"Oh really? I thought that was the whole point of being emo. Do you even know how to laugh?"

At that, she didn't reply.

I continued, "None of you even has real friends and I bet there's a reason for it. I think it's because you guys don't know how to have fun. If I were to ask any of you to hang out at the mall, I gurantee you would find a hundred lame excuses not to go." I leaned back into my chair.

"What are we supposed to do at the mall?" Jay-Jay asked.

"See? If you knew how to have fun, you wouldn't be asking that. What do you do in your free time? Read and sleep?"

"Let's go to the mall now and get this over with," Jay-Jay said, packing up her belongings.

"What? Now?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Why not now? Unless you want to stay here in school and learn." She actually had the decency to smile cruelly at me. So did Ethan. Alicia didn't, but her eyes showed an evil that truly suited her outward appearance.

I shrugged my shoulders and huffed. "I don't care if we go now. I just wanted to make sure I heard you right."

I got up and grabbed my bag, then threw it to Ethan. He was a little slow to react and ended up missing it, resulting in my bag falling to the ground with a loud thud. I glared at him and he immediately scampered to pick up the items that had fallen out and place them back in my bag.

"You coming or what?" I asked Adrian, who was still sitting at the table, looking slightly dazed.

He flashed me his signature charming grin and hastily hopped to his feet with his skateboard tucked under his arm.

Out in the parking lot, we were faced with a very different problem. Which car should we take?

I noticed that each of them were looking in a different direction, most likely at their own cars.

"Um, my car can't fit all of us," Adrian said, looking at his car.

"Same," Jay-Jay said. I followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at a brand new, flamboyant red Porsche Carrera GT. It was obviously _very_ new, considering her old car was recently smashed into pieces.

I was starting to think she had a thing for red.

"Neither can mine," Alicia mumbled. She was staring at a blue SSC Ultimate Aero. I thought these cars were kind of extravagant for school, but then again, I had a Ferrari, so I wasn't really in any position to talk.

Much like Jay-Jay and red, I was thinking Alicia must have a thing for blue.

"Well, since all of you had been stupid enough to buy flashy cars with no space in them, I guess we'll have to take my car," Ethan announced happily with a smug smile on his face.

His car wasn't even a car. It was a monster green Hummer. But he was right. It was the only car out of all of ours in which could fit every one of us without us being completely squished.

"Shotgun!" I yelled, snatching the key from Ethan and running toward his car.

The only one who didn't stand there like a statue was Adrian, who tried to race me. I was in the passengers seat before he even reached the car.

He reluctantly got into the back seat with a scowl on his face, murmuring, "Fast little thing," under his breath.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

The other three, being their slow selves, finally reached the car and hopped in.

Ethan sat in the drivers seat and held out his hand for the key. For a second, I thought about throwing it out of the window, but then I decided against it and handed him the key, letting my better half win.

"I never thought the day would come where I would go shopping with two of the biggest losers in school," Jay-Jay said. "The most stupid jock, and a new girl."

Everyone was shooting death glares at her, but it didn't seem to bother her at all.

"What? That is how the social food chain works. I'm not the one who made it up, I just said it," she tried to defend herself.

"Isn't that enough of a reason to hate you?" Alicia asked.

"Sure it is. I didn't say that you can't hate me — do so if it pleases you. I just wanted it to be known that I didn't voice my own opinions," Jay-Jay answered nonchalantly.

Alicia and Jay-Jay were very contrastive people, but I could see that also shared a few similarities.

Or at least that was the vibe I was getting.

"To comment on what you said earlier: we're not going to shop," I informed her with an evil smile.

"What else are we supposed to do in a mall?" Ethan asked confusedly.

"We are going to play truth or dare," I said, my grin stretching even further across my face.

"What? I'm driving you to the mall — which by the way, is all the way in Port Angeles — just to play a game of truth or dare?" Ethan looked at me in disbelief.

"Eyes on the road," Alicia instructed sternly.

"As if you even care if we all die. You'd probably be happy to end your _miserable life_," Jay-Jay mocked.

We ignored her.

"We're not going to play any old game of truth or dare, or else we wouldn't need to go to the mall. We're playing Truth or Dare: Bella Style."

"Sa-weet!" Adrian cheered.

"And what exactly is 'Bella Style' truth or dare?" Jay-Jay asked.

"Either you tell the truth or you get thrown out of a store. If you choose the latter, then the one who asks the question is the one who has to come up with a way for you to do so."

"That is really stupid. What do you expect us to do? Have cart races?" Alicia asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, something like that," I replied seriously.

"Ah, baby girl, I love your ideas." Adrian gave a happy sigh.

"You guys are actually dating?" Jay-Jay asked in disbelief, her dark eyes darting back and forth between Adrian and I.

"Why do you care, Cruella? Are you jealous?" Adrian asked, waggling his eyebrows.

She simply looked at him with a disgusted expression before turning her head away to look out the window.

"I think that's a yes," Ethan whispered under his breath.

If Jay-Jay heard him, she didn't show it.

I looked at Alicia and saw that she was sitting in the middle of Jay-Jay and Adrian, with her head in her hands, looking similar to a bored child. Most of her hair was covering her face, so she blew it away from herself time and time again.

Adrian started singing the Cruella De Vil song in hopes of annoying Jay-Jay.

She kept her cool for the most part, but eventually, she snapped.

"You might wanna close that God damn mouth of yours before I close it for you," she warned.

"Is that a promise?"

"Mâthâ?" she practically screeched. I didn't even know what that meant, but she continued anyway. "I can't stand it when people get on my nerves, so just shut up or I will make _sure_ you don't stay in this car. Machbûl," she muttered the last word quietly.

I wasn't sure what it meant, but whatever it was, it couldn't have been very nice.

"What does that mean?" Adrian asked curiously, voicing the thought that everyone in the car was probably thinking.

"What does what mean?" Jay-Jay asked back, sounding annoyed.

"The word that you mumbled just a second ago. It's not English...or did I miss something?"

"It's Arabic," I answered for her.

"You speak Arabic?" Ethan asked, turning to look at me in surprise.

"Eyes on the road, dammit," Alicia said once again. Her voice was just as emotionless as ever. I was sort of glad that she was saying something, because we'd probably all get killed if he didn't pay attention.

Ethan was quick to turn his attention back to the road.

"No, I don't speak Arabic," I answered. "Do any of you even pay attention? She was reading a book in Arabic earlier."

"Yes, that's right," Jay-Jay mumbled, letting her accent ring out strongly.

"Oh, huh. Well, at least now we know where that accent comes from," Alicia commented.

Jay-Jay sighed deeply, but otherwise said nothing.

"Ah, so we've got an oriental princess here, huh?" Adrian joked.

She scoffed at that. "Shut up, cowboy."

Ethan snickered.

"That's not funny." Adrian pouted.

"I think it is. Especially the way you southerners talk," Ethan replied.

"Oh yeah? I bet you speak differently sometimes too," Adrian countered, sounding quite a bit like a child. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had added a 'so there!' and stuck his tongue out.

Ethan's laugh was loud as it boomed around the car. "You're right, and that's probably because I'm from Norway. English isn't my mother tongue," he answered with amusement clear in his voice.

"Really? You're from Norway? How come you don't have an accent then?" Alicia asked, sounding a little more interested than usual.

"Yeah, I am. And I don't have an accent because I got rid of it after I moved to the US. I figured it would be easier to fit in that way," Ethan explained with a light shrug. Alicia's face turned thoughtful.

"Is there anyone in this car who doesn't have — or used to have — an accent?" I asked desperately, looking at Alicia. She was the only one who hadn't said where she was from. I didn't really want to be the only one in the car without an accent.

She shrugged softly and stared ahead, not looking at anyone or anything in particular as she answered with a simple, "I'm Italian."

"You're from Italy?" asked Adrian, sounding a little shocked.

"No, I'm from Amsterdam," she replied sarcastically. "Of course I'm from Italy. Perché altrimenti dico che sono italiano?" Her voice sounded blunt.

I had no idea what that even meant. I opened my mouth to ask her, but was interrupted by Jay-Jay.

"What does that mean?"

"It means 'Why else would I say I'm Italian?'" Alicia replied. Now that I actually listened intently, it was obvious that she was Italian. She had a strong accent too. As I remembered how I hadn't even noticed Adrian's drawl at first, I realized that I should probably start paying more attention to things.

Adrian said nothing. He most likely had no rebuttal for what she said.

If I had ever thought that I was cooler than any of the kids in Forks just because I came from Phoenix, I certainly didn't think that anymore.

"We're here," Ethan announced happily as he pulled into a parking space.

When none of them made a move to get out of the car, I impatiently asked, "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"The world to come to a sudden end," Alicia answered in a grave voice.

"And for once, I agree with her," Jay-Jay added.

I rolled my eyes at them.

"Ethan?" I asked.

"Hmm?" he replied.

"I want ice cream."

"And that's my problem?" he asked me, his voice on the edge of annoyance.

"Well, in a way, yes it is. Since you are my slave and all," I told him with an innocent look on my face.

He groaned and attempted to get out of the car, but was stopped by Alicia tapping him lightly on the shoulder. He turned back to her.

"Since you're already going to be in the ice cream parlor, would you please get me some ice cream, too?" she asked in her flowing, calm voice. "As long as it's not pink, I'll eat it."

Ethan looked at her in a way that clearly meant "what the hell?" but nodded nonetheless. He attempted, once again, to leave, but this time, Jay-Jay stopped him from doing so.

"Hold it right there, kiddo. I want ice cream, too. I'll eat anything except chocolate," she told him.

"Does anyone even care that I'm _only_ Bella's slave, and no one elses?" Ethan exclaimed in exasperation.

We all looked at him with even, expressionless faces. He huffed and was about to get out of the car, when Adrian spoke.

"Hey, Clay," he said.

"What now? I'm not going to get any ice cream for you," Ethan said. It was blatantly obvious that he was annoyed and he seemed to be a little angry, too.

"Don't worry, I don't want ice cream. I was just gonna tell ya to wait up so I can go with you." He went around Jay-Jay and hopped out of the car.

Ethan rolled his eyes as he finally made his way out of the car. The guy strolled away, Adrian sending one last smile my way before they disappeared from our view.

"What now?" Jay-Jay asked in her usual demanding way.

"What do you mean?" Alicia asked, her voice back to it's usual emotionless boredom.

"I'm bored."

"And that has what exactly to do with me?"

"I think we could start playing now," I interfered before anything between the two of them could start. "And since it was my wonderful idea, I'll go first."

Both of them turned to look at me with raised eyebrows.

"Jay-Jay, truth or dare?" I asked her, ignoring the looks I was receiving from them.

"Truth," she said.

I frowned. I was hoping she would choose dare. Well, I guess now I have to think of a good question to ask her. I thought about it for a few moments, and when I came to an appropriate question, a cruel smile threatened to make its way onto my lips. I barely held it back.

"If you had to decide between Ethan and Adrian, who would you choose?" I asked her.

She looked at me, but didn't say anything for a bit. "I don't know. I'd probably kill myself," she finally answered.

"Wrong answer," I said. "You have to choose one of them. And since you didn't answer correctly, you have to do a dare." My eyes were probably glowing evilly by now. I had been counting on her answering it wrong so that I could dare her, and thankfully, she did just that. "Go into the Walmart and—"

"What?" Jay-Jay stopped me with her screech. "I do not go into Walmart."

"Well, you do now," I replied with a sarcastic smile. "As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted." I sent her a small glare. "You will go into Walmart, walk up to the nearest employee and tell them that there is a code three in the houseware department. Then we'll see what happens."

"What if they don't have a code three?" Alicia asked.

"Then she'll make one up. I don't know or care. I just want to see what happens," I answered with a shrug.

Jay-Jay rolled her eyes, but sighed in defeat. "Better get this over with this. Really quick," she mumbled, getting out of the car.

Alicia and I trailed after her. Me with a gleeful smile lighting my face.

"Hey! Where are you going? Were you planning on ditching us?" I heard Adrian's voice shout from the opposite direction.

The three of us turned to see him and Ethan approaching us with ice cream cones in their hands. When they reached us, they handed the delicious cold treat to us. I noticed that neither Jay-Jay nor Alicia said thank you to them. It seemed that Ethan didn't even notice. They were even more anti-social than I had thought.

"So where are you going?" Ethan asked, repeating what Adrian had asked.

"Bella dared Jay-Jay to go into Walmart and tell one of the employees that there's a code three in housewares," Alicia stated so fast that I wasn't even sure if she had actually spoken. Even though it was quick, her voice was still as low and calm as usual.

"Nice work, baby girl. I can't wait to see this," Adrian complimented as he, like usual, slung his arm over my shoulder.

We started walking to the Walmart. As soon as we entered it, I began to look for an employee.

A blonde girl who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else was the first I spotted.

"There's one," I exclaimed, discreetly pointing at the girl.

Jay-Jay eyed her for a moment before she shook her head and said, "She won't fall for it."

How would she know?

I didn't bother asking, instead choosing to resume my search. The next one I saw was a black-haired guy who was standing awkwardly, readjusting his blue Walmart vest.

"How about that one?" I asked.

Jay-Jay turned to look at the same place as I was, but Alicia bet her to it. Her blue eyes scanned his appearance swiftly.

"He won't care. He'll probably just try to flirt with her," she stated simply.

"How do you even know that?" I asked.

Alicia shrugged calmly. "Polished black shoes, overly-gelled hair, plucked eyebrows, and a cheesy smile."

I sighed and dismissed it. We strolled around Walmart for a few more minutes in search of another victim before I spotted one that could work.

"What about her?" I asked. It was a middle-aged woman who looked to be nervous.

"Nah, she won't be able to handle it. She'll just call her boss to tell him about it," Ethan said nonchalantly.

Why was it that all of them seemed to know what was going to happen? Were they psychics or something?

"Him?" I asked with annoyance clear in my voice, pointing a bald, rotund man.

"Not working. He's too proper anyway, he would never believe her."

I gave up. I felt like I was among a group of super detectives or something.

"He's perfect," Jay-Jay declared suddenly, gesturing to a young man who looked like he had just gotten out of school. His hair was greasy and he had horrible acne.

Everyone agreed.

Jay-Jay smiled a somewhat cruel smile to herself and strutted toward the poor guy.

The way she was walking with her hips swaying could intimidate people, but this boy seemed to be a very nervous person, so he looked more than a bit scared when she boldly walked up to him. She came to an abrupt stop in front of him and watched the boy with a strict expression. There was no emotion showing on her face, and I began to wonder why she was so good at that.

When she spoke, her voice was stern. "Why are you not in the houseware department?" she demanded sharply.

He looked even more frightened than he had before, so much so that I was pretty sure he was shaking. "I-I didn't know I was s-supposed to be there, m-ma'am," he stuttered.

"Then you better hurry up. We've got a code three in there." The boy looked like he was about to pass out as he stood there, frozen. "What are you still doing here?" she snapped. He quickly scurried off and Jay-Jay turned back to us with a satisfied smirk on her face. She strolled back over to us, the expression never leaving her face until she came back to us and it was replaced by a more evil look. "My turn," she declared before turning to look at Ethan. "Truth or dare?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you even have to ask? Dare."

She tapped her chin thoughtfully for a minute, then smirked. "I dare you to get a towel and drape it over your shoulders like a cape, then run around the store singing 'Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na Batman! Come on Robin, to the bat cave!'"

Ethan grinned and said, "With pleasure," before he disappeared down the linen aisle. After a few minutes, he came out with a towel on his shoulders. But not just any towel. A Batman towel. It was black with the yellow bat symbol on it, had a black hood-towel piece on it, was cut at the hem in the shape of batwings, and was absolutely perfect for the dare. He smirked at us before taking off, running and pushing passed people while screaming out the song.

I started laughing. I couldn't stop and soon, tears were running down my face. I looked over to the others and saw that Adrian was in the same position as me, Alicia was standing emotionlessly, though I could see a very small smile playing on her lips, and Jay-Jay was looking on with an amused smile.

When Ethan reappeared in our view, he had a strange expression on his face. It was a mix between proud, cocky, and frightened. The moment I saw the security guards chasing after him, I knew where the latter was coming from. "Robin! Help me!" he shouted to me.

I smiled and shrugged, "Sorry Batman, you're on your own."

He ran around our group a few times, changing patterns and directions before Alicia got annoyed and stuck her foot out. Ethan tripped over it and fell to the ground. "You'll never take me alive!" he screamed as the security guards grabbed him by the arms and pulled him up. Even though there was two guards, who didn't look too scrawny but also didn't look very muscular, their facial expressions showed that they had a hard time getting Ethan up. And he was helping them out by not resisting.

I held in a laugh.

"We're going to have to call the police," one of the guards stated.

Ethan's eyes widened comically.

I stepped in, "I'm so sorry about my brother. He has a mental disability. He may not be a child anymore, but his brain doesn't age at the same pace as his body, so he's mentally only seven years old."

The guard looked at me skeptically but my face showed only honesty. What can I say? I'm a good liar. "Okay, ma'am," the other guard said. "But we're going to have to ask you to leave."

I sighed sadly and smiled at him, "I understand." I grabbed Ethan's hand. "Come on, sweetie, we'll go to the down and get some ice cream for you, okay?" He nodded enthusiastically, playing the role of a child. "Once again, I'm sorry," I said to the guards. They nodded back.

When we were out of Walmart, we all burst out laughing. Well, not all of us. Ethan, Adrian and I did. Alicia stood there with a blank expression and Jay-Jay looked on with an annoyed one.

"Are you done now?" Jay-Jay snapped when we were finally able to sober up a little.

It made a chuckle bubble from my lips but I nodded anyway, "Yep."

"Who vill be my veectum?" Ethan murmured to himself evilly in a poor attempt to sound like Dracula. "Ah, yes, I believe it is time for our little Adrian to have a go." He smirked. "Truth or dare?"

Adrian shrugged carelessly. "Dare."

Ethan moved to Adrian's side and leaned down to whisper something in his ear. I could've heard him, but I didn't want to ruin the game and impose, so I just stood there while listening to Jay-Jay impatiently tap her foot on the ground in an annoying rhythm.

"Can you cut it out?" I snapped at her when it finally broke my nerves. Really, I lasted longer than I thought I would though. I was sort of proud of myself for that. "God!"

Jay-Jay whipped her head around and glared at me as she opened her mouth, no doubt to snap something back at me, but when Adrian walked off toward the fountain in the center of the mall, she closed her mouth.

"What's the dare?" Alicia asked, sounding far more interested than I would've thought she was capable of.

"You'll see," Ethan smirked as he sent her a wink. She rolled her eyes, watching as Adrian took a seat on one of the benches around the fountain donning a rather strange expression on his face. We moved closer so we could be in hearing range without looking like we knew him.

"Blimey, what an ace of a day it is today," Adrian said in a heavy British accent, heaving a sigh and leaning back on the bench.

I looked at Ethan with raised eyebrows, but he merely shook his head.

"You callin' that a nice day? Where I'm from days like this are worse than steppin' in cow pies," Adrian answered himself, his southern accent weighing much heavier than it should have. "Cow pies? Now what on Earth is that? You Americans really don't know anything about proper food and etiquette. A cow pie! What kind of name is that for a pie?" he complained in a French accent.

I stifled a laugh. Hearing Adrian do all these different accents was rather amusing. But it was even funnier when people started looking at him strangely while they passed him.

"A cow pie ain't a cake, it's cow shit. I don't know what's wrong with all ya French people always complainin' about the food. Where I come from, you eat what's in front of ya or ya don't eat at all," Southern Adrian said. The British Adrian replied, "That is a rather primitive way of thinking, is it not? The French cuisine is known to be one of the best in the world."

"Oh, how right you are. I remember back in the day when my husband and I would always fly to France every spring just to enjoy the food there." Now Adrian's voice was high and shaky like the voice of a grandmother. "Grama! That Cowboy just said a bad word!" Adrian said in a voice that was so high-pitched and girlie that he resembled a 5-year-old girl. I think that was what he was aiming for.

I burst into laughter and heard Jay-Jay's snort of amusement.

"You better not speak like that ever, Becky, or you'll be put into time out. The things kids put in their mouths these days," Adrian said in his Grandmother voice as he shook his head. "Such a shame." Southern Adrian smiled sheepishly, "Sorry ma'am, I'll be on my best behavior from now on," he tipped his non-existent hat.

Ethan and I were in hysterics, while Jay-Jay couldn't keep the grin off her face and looked like an actual human for once, rather than a cold-hearted bitch, and even Alicia was desperately trying to keep her unaffected expression. She was failing though, and I could see the smile spreading on her face.

"Really, the youth of today have no manners or respect. Back in the day, we would have been whipped or smacked with a wooden spoon if we spoke like that. The boys were very well-behaved. Much like this one right here," Grandma Adrian pointed to someone who wasn't there on her right.

Adrian quickly scooched over to where he'd pointed, crossed his legs, and straightened his back. "Well thank you, Miss. I always do my best to remain behaved, especially around beautiful ladies such as yourself," British Adrian said.

Grandma Adrian chuckled in embarrassment and waved off the comment.

"Really? That's not how you charm a stunning woman. You have to take her hand," French Adrian, who was sitting on Granny's other side, took her non-existent hand. "And then you look her deep in the eye," he looked intently at no one. "And you lean in and whisper softly into her ear," he leaned closer to the non-existent person and whispered something before switching back to Granny, who chuckled even more.

"What a nice young charmer you are. I'd almost forgotten just how charming you French men can be," Grandma Adrian said.

"What did he say, Grama?" Little girl Adrian, Becky, asked. He'd quickly slipped down from the bench to tug at his grandmother's skirt.

By now, a crowd started to form around Adrian.

Sadly, we never got to hear what the French Adrian whispered, though, because there was one thing that surprised us all.

Jay-Jay's laugh.

I never thought I'd see the day that the queen bitch showed she was capable of something like that. But as soon as the high soprano laugh escaped her mouth, Adrian glanced over at us and his mouth dropped open.

I think the rest of us looked the same, except for Alicia. But I could see that she was fighting for her own control. While Jay-Jay was now clutching her stomach, Alicia's very own version of a giggle escaped and I felt as my chin hit the ground.

The mall was a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure that even Jay-Jay and Alicia had fun. Well, judging by the fact that they both laughed, I'd say they definitely had a lot of fun. Ethan ended up daring me to run around suspiciously while humming the theme song from _Mission: Impossible_. I would've done it alone, but Adrian insisted he come along. Later on, we went into a tent and told random passersby that they could come in if they brought a pillow. Only three people actually did it, but it was more than we had anticipated.

You know how those announcements come on over the intercoms in stores? Well, Jay-Jay dared Alicia to fall to the ground sobbing and scream "the voices!" every time that happened, then get up and act like nothing happened. She performed surprisingly well, but I guess she's just that good at being nonchalant about things. She also screamed "I see dead people!" at every old person she passed. She did it so seriously that I nearly believed the girl. It was crazy.

Jay-Jay had to take off her shoes in front of a cashier in a shoe store and tell them that she wanted to return them. The cashier was like "You didn't buy those from here," and Jay-Jay made a scene by stomping her foot and yelling that the customer is always right. She somehow ended up getting a free pair of shoes. She also flirted with some gangly teenage boy with loads of acne and entered a relationship with him, then broke up with him...in ten minutes. I still don't know how she managed that one, but I guess when you're as pretty as she is, it's not that hard.

Ethan went up to some random guy and acted like he had been going out with him and that the guy never called him back. He then hugged him, slapped him, and stomped away angrily. Later, Ethan went into a music store, stopped where everyone could see him, and belted out the lyrics to the song _Baby_ by Justin Bieber as loud as he possibly could.

He wasn't even dared to do it.

I had to sneak into the room where they have the intercom and calmly state that the world was about to end, and that there was a sale on aisle 2.

For some reason, people actually believed what I'd said and when I exited the room, there were people running around frantically.

It was a lot more amusing than it should have been.

By the time we arrived back at school, the parking lot was naturally deserted. The tension that had been there earlier was completely gone. After saying goodbye, everyone departed and went to their own separate cars with blissfully happy expressions on their faces.

Maybe Adrian's idea would work after all.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, we've completed chapter three! Yay us! We're sooo sorry for the delay, but we've both been extremely busy with other things in our lives, such as sleep (Star is 9 hours ahead of me, so it gets tough to collab), and all that mumbo jumbo. And sorry to people with mental disabilities. This wasn't meant as an offense to those of you who have them, it was purely a comical scene. Once again, we apologize if there was any offense taken, but remember: it's just a story. And we know it's mostly humor right now, but trust us when we say that the drama and supernatural stuff _is_ coming. Oooh, and we **_**may**_** throw a little bit of romance in there soon. But between who? If you think you may know what pairings we may have...let us know in a review.**

**REVIEW!**


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